Jeff Sessions quotes:

You pay a price when you have an objective sentencing system. That is, nothing is perfect.

Bin Laden, who was in his country, attacked and damaged our Pentagon, and killed our soldiers right out here at the Pentagon. But his pentagon no longer exists. It is rubble.

We need more American energy. It keeps wealth at home. It keeps our wealth from ending up in Venezuela and Saudi Arabia. It creates jobs at home.

Marriage has been defined by every legislature that has ever sat in the United States from every State, now 50 States, the same way, but now we have unelected judges altering and changing that fundamental institution.

Amnesty will not help balance our budget ... In fact, a large-scale amnesty is likely to add trillions of dollars to the debt over time, accelerate Medicare's and Social Security's slide into insolvency and put enormous strain on our public-assistance programs.

I noticed one thing. According to the ABA statistics, only 3.5 percent of lawyers in America in 2000 were Hispanic, yet they - Hispanics make up 5 percent of the federal district court judges and 6 percent of circuit court judges.

The United States has the burden to lead for peace. And not just peace - we need peace with justice, a much harder goal.

Encouraging self-sufficiency must be a bedrock for our immigration policy, with the goal of reducing poverty, strengthening the family, and promoting our economic values. But Administration officials and their policies are working actively against this goal.

Iraq assumes responsibility for its own future... They have got to step up.

I think it's clear to me that what - when I look at the tea party, it's about one-third Democrat, one-third Republican, one-third independents. But 100 percent of them are sure that the agenda that is taking place in Washington, D.C., is about extremism and is about bankrupting this country and every state within this country.

I went to law school at Alabama and I grew up a loyal Auburn fan. I'm one of the few that wrestles with those issues sometimes, but we're really proud of them. Like the University of Alabama has almost doubled its enrollment.

All soldiers who serve their country and put their lives at risk need to know that if something happens to them, their families will be well taken care of. That's the bond we have with our military men and women and their families.

At least 99.92% of illegal immigrants and visa overstays without known crimes on their records did not face removal.

In retrospect there were failures enough to go around. There were failures before the storm and failures after the storm.

The civil libertarians among us would rather defend the constitution than protect our nation's security.

I am not the Jeff Sessions my detractors have tried to create. I am not a racist. I am not insensitive to blacks.

There was a resistance movement in the white community, and there was a determined civil rights movement by our neighbors and friends in the African-American community. They had right on their side. They conducted themselves in high standards, with courage and determination, and they were victorious. They overcame.

Some of my best friends are FBI agents.

I am totally committed to maintaining the freedom and equality America has to provide to every citizen.

People of my generation knew we needed to move beyond that, the racial division and segregation and unsustainable social relations, that were unfair to millions of people. But it didn't mean that we were going to become a big government liberal.

Donald Trump is saying we're going to end the lawlessness at the border and we're going to push Mexico to do better. So there's been a reaction by the activist community to attack him.

Well, first of all, let's go right to it. We're going to balance the budget. We should live within our own means, and we should read the bills and work with the American people.

There's a lot of overconfidence about this bill. We're going to expose it. It will not pass.

I certainly believe that improving our intelligence is of important national interest.

We don't pay judges to think; we pay judges to rule on the law.

You're not supposed to be admitted to America if you're likely to be a charge on the public - if you're going to need government aid to take care of yourself ... It [2006 immigration bill] failed because it did not do what it said it would do... End the illegality first. Then we can wrestle with how to treat compassionately people who have been in America for a long time.

Good people don't smoke marijuana.

I just don't think there's that many people who think it's wrong to have control on our borders. That's not racism. It's not racism to question some of the political correctness today that's going on, to recognize that things are going as well as - for American workers, as they'd like, because people, their frustration is arising from a deep sense of unease that Washington is fiddling while their house is burning.

We represent our constituents. And so they don't get to dictate policy.

Kissinger-type foreign policy is clearly, in my view, the proper tilt for us in the future, and he [Donald Trump] gets it. And some of our members, I guess, have been so deeply committed to the [George W.]Bush agenda, the neo-conservative agenda, that it's harder for them to acknowledge that. But I acknowledge it.

I believe that President [George W.] Bush was correct. I thought that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, and I supported him steadfastly, and once we committed we should see it through.

I just want you to know that as a southerner, who actually saw discrimination and have no doubt it existed in a systematic and powerful and negative way to the people - great millions of people in the South, particularly, of America - I know that was wrong. I know we need to do better.

[My father ] came home from World War II and he voted for [Dwight] Eisenhower. He was pretty thoughtful about those things, but never, as I said, ever campaigned for anybody. He let me put a [Barry] Goldwater sticker on his pickup truck, but he never put a bumper sticker on his car. We never had a yard sign or anything in our yards, never contributed to anybody's campaign.

We need to be protecting American citizens who are here, out of work, and hurting today-minorities, Blacks and Whites and all colors and races that are hurting today with high unemployment, but we seem to be more focused on how we can ram through this Senate a bill that would legalize millions and create an even more robust guest worker program. There are not enough jobs now. Give me a break.

I deeply understand the history of civil rights and the horrendous impact that relentless and systemic discrimination and the denial of voting rights has had on our African-American brothers and sisters. I have witnessed it.

This is a critical time in American history. [Donald's Trump] strength is willingness to stand up to political conventions, take on Republican and Democrat leaders, and, in effect, do so in defense of the legitimate interest of people who make less than median income in America, is the key to victory.

I think Donald Trump's history has shown that this was a very problematic thing. There were so many ways Iraq could have gone awry once we started, and I don't think most of us spend enough time considering the dangers.

I would like to think that we are on a move that could be like [Ronald] Reagan. Reagan appealed to the average working American: their patriotism, their love of country, the belief in their schools and their communities and their loyalty to the military and police, and the things that create stability and a good life.

Ending the lawlessness at the border? I don't believe a fourth-generation Hispanic thinks that's evil. I don't think an African American thinks there's anything wrong with protecting their jobs for a change.

You've got the principled people who maybe are on salaried jobs, or CEOs, entrepreneurs, and all of those that are great people, but if you're not appealing - the permanent coalition is to join that with traditional Americans who feel like, that things aren't going well for them, and to develop policies that improve their lifestyle, not just upper-income lifestyles. And once that's believed by working people, that it's serious and a commitment and you care about people like me, for a change, Republicans could create a new majority.

We know that a ready amnesty tends to be an invitation to more illegal entries.

Donald Trump can improve and get better as he goes along, and I think he will.

I think that may have been the biggest rally Donald Trump had, and he had the cap that said "Make American Great Again." So I thought that was - I liked that. We do need to make American great again, and I put his hat on for a little bit.

People are not doing well financially. I mean, wages are down from 2000. They're down from 2007. 2000 - down. Not going - they're below what they were in 2000. People are hurting. Things aren't going well for them.

Instead of engaging on the merits and saying, "Well, we want an open border, you know, we really do," and that's all good for America because they know the people will reject that, they [the elites] attack Donald Trump as an extremist, which I think is unfair.

When I present evidence, I expect the judge to hear and see all the evidence that gets presented.

I think it's an honorable thing that Donald Trump is doing.

Those policies - more taxes, more regulation, more debt, more spending, more government - will make American worse. It just will, in my view.

Because a person chooses to leave their home country and come to the United States does not necessarily mean they have the right to demand that their father or their other extended family members be allowed to come if they don't otherwise meet the standard.

My father never ran for office or supported anybody for office, and was not engaged in that at all. But I think people throughout the area were just in a constant state of tension - I mean, adults.

You cannot be president of the United States if people below $50,000 don't think you care about them and you have no real communication that motivates them to vote for you.

The greatest disaster of all was after all the difficulties and loss of life and expenditures, President [Barak] Obama walked away, in 2011, and it is a disaster. And now we've got half of Iraq under the ISIS control and terrorists, and Iran has moved in because we weren't there, and they've taken more influence. Just a few thousand troops, in my opinion, would have avoided that.

I understand the demands for justice and fairness made by the L.G.B.T. community.

[Donald] Trump is going to appeal better to African Americans, Hispanics, and others than previous Republican candidates because he's talking about what they want: a fair chance to have a better life economically.

We need to give them [the Justice Department] as much power as we can without eroding fundamental liberties.

Hillary Clinton says nobody should be deported that entered illegally unless they commit a violent felony, which is an argument for open borders and American people reject that.

People tell me, "Well, you understand where the voters are, Jeff, where the votes are, or what people are thinking," and they'll sort of - in a complimentary way. And it's a bit of an acknowledgement that we've been blind to some of these issues for too long.

I think the people who go to work every day don't feel like Washington cares a whit about them,and, actually, they're executing policies that are bad for them.

I think that the real future of the American party is to bring in working Americans.

I've supported civil rights activity in my state. I have done my job with integrity, equality and fairness for all.

It's perfectly reasonable and responsible policy for any nation to maintain its sovereignty, to protect its borders. And [Donald] Trump does not believe in ending immigration. He's never proposed that.

I think Donald Trump is moving to - and will continue to move to the economic argument, as to why what he's doing is - represents a commitment to stand up to big business, to international corporations who favor more immigration and lower wages - that's what they favor - and a defense of the interest of the American people who go to work every day.

I've had very little negative pushback. I think people in the Senate know that I have believed, for a number of years, and have been outspoken that we need to listen to what the American people are telling us, and we need to focus more on the well-being of people who make lower wages, $50,000 and below.

[Donald] Trump is where the Republicans are, and if you're going to be a Republican leader you should be supportive of that.

As the witness testified before my Subcommittee on Immigration, that barriers magnify the ability of every Border Patrol agent to be more effective. And so if you make up your mind, you can build substantial mileage barriers. It will increase the ability of our officers to perform, and the most important thing is, it sends a message to the world, the border is closed.

I didn't endorse Donald Trump but I thanked him for coming, thanked him for raising issues that were important, thanked him for talking about immigration and considering the views that we had worked on for a number of years, on what a good immigration policy should be.

We know the Chinese have revealed millions of background information on millions of people in the United States, and these, I suppose, ultimately are part of international big-power politics.

When a nation uses their improperly gained or intelligence-wise gained information to take policy positions that impact another nation's democracy or their approach to any issue, then that raises real serious matters.

When I came up as a United States Attorney, I had no real support group. I didn't prepare myself well in 1986, and there was an organized effort to caricature me as someone I wasn't. True. It was very painful. I didn't know how to respond and didn't respond very well.

I understand the lifelong scars born by women who are victims of assault and abuse.

We can never go back.

We'll have a national dispute - debate about it, and the goal should be to bring in - to help respectfully appeal to those voters that can make the difference, the ones who are not going to be entrepreneurs, are never going to be - run a - be a CEO in some big business, and they know it, but they would like to have their Social Security, they would like to have Medicare as they paid for all their years, and they'd like rising wages rather than falling wages.

[Donald] Trump, I think, understands it. He has said this is going to be a new Republican Party, a workers' Republican Party, instead of just the elite Republican Party.

In my class was an Annapolis graduate, several engineers, and most recent president of the University of Alabama.These were all small-town people who had good values. The families were tight. The schools reaffirmed the families and reaffirmed the church values that you were taught. I guess it was just one of those swell times to be a part of.

I think the leaders in all parties tend to adjust to reality. They just have to or they won't remain in office.

We were just country people. All my grandfathers had farms. They had chickens, cattle and tried to get by farming, for the most part.

We were segregated throughout the community, and it was pretty brutal, actually. It didn't appear to be, on the surface.People got along and we had great relationships, but there was discrimination that impacted adversely the ability of the African-American community to progress. People did not - were in denial about that fact.

In my family, we were not involved in politics at all.

People react not very wisely sometimes.

We should create an America in which it's - we can - Americans have a better chance to progress wages and job prospects, and we can do that.

The Republican Party, in many ways, grew up as a reaction to that [ segregation], and a lot of people have misunderstood that.

They [Democratic Party ] did not do what they promised to do. And we're not going to end trade - that's very important to state - but we're going to have to be more careful about it, and we have to recognize, as politicians, we don't represent some international company.

[Mitt] Romney didn't get beyond the numbers. He couldn't get 50 percent. Romney didn't - Romney got killed by the under-$50,000-a-year income voter. He just got killed in that.

Voters are saying "I like this guy [Donald Trump]. He just might shake this place up."

My father had a country store and then later, when I was 10 or 12, sold it and bought a farm equipment dealership in nearby Camden.

Donald Trump believed that the whole history of trade agreements, most of which I've supported over the years, have not been effective, and I've come to believe he's right.

I supported the Korean Trade Agreement in 2011. They promised - when it was signed, President [Barak] Obama said it would increase our exports to Korea by $10 billion a year.That creates jobs in America.Since - last year, 2015, there was no increase, like instead of billions of dollars there was like a $100 million increase in our exports to Korea, whereas as their imports to us went up $12 billion, and our trade deficit increased 240 percent.

How is it appropriate for a judge ever to say that they will choose to see some facts and not others?

Basically [I become a Republican], pretty early. I had an English teacher that got me to subscribe to the National Review.

I think if a candidate ran for office in most states in the country, if his opponent, or her opponent was an effective advocate against the TPP and could show, as I think we will be able to show, it's detrimental to working Americans, I think they would have a hard time getting elected.

[Donald] Trump has made this a big issue. He's leading in Ohio. He's leading, right up there in Pennsylvania, 1-point difference, and people are responding because the people's instincts are correct. This is what I believe.

Donald Trump is saying the right thing. We're bringing in so much labor, it's pulling down working people.

I concluded that the trade agreements weren't working as promised, and was depreciating the wages and the manufacturing base, and the jobs of Americans, and that both needed to change, and Donald Trump was out there. So I went to his rally.

More taxes, more regulation, more Washington domination, more debt. Those things are not the future for America. They will never work.

[Ronald Reagan] appealed to that group of [working American] people and we can do it again, because they've had, now, eight years of [Barak] Obama. Things have not gone well.

I guess maybe the only time I met George Wallace was when - at a boy scout meeting in Montgomery, and he met 10 or 15 of us from different areas. I'm not sure why I was there.

We're going to create factory jobs for recent immigrants, and Donald Trump is going to take care of them. That's why his numbers, even right now, in this negative period, are holding pretty strong, because people want a leader that's going to make this country great again and have a strong economy.

Winston County was a pocket of Republicans. Even in the depression days, when Democrats dominated Alabama, Winston County remained a Republican county and all the elected officials were Republican.

Frank Johnson was recognized as one of the great federal judges of American history, I suppose. He was a law-and-order judge. He was a classical, I think, conservative. But he believed that civil rights provided in the Constitution applied to everybody.

Donald Trump foreign policy speech got good reviews, and it says we're going to defeat the people who are direct threats to us, but we're going to be a lot more cautious about getting involved in long-term, Wilsonian adventures.

Coming out of the anti - coming out of the Republican heritage of Abraham Lincoln, Frank Johnson could see it more clearly than Alabamians would, which led to the big confrontations between Frank Johnson and George Wallace.

[Donald] Trump is underestimated greatly in terms of his understanding and comprehension of the great issues facing America. He understands trade. He's got businesses all over the world. He understands currency and how manipulating currency can be damaging to America.

I would acknowledge that [Paul] Ryan has some really good ideas about things, and I think they'll get together, like taxes. Larry Kudlow, Stephen Moore, they've been supportive of Ryan's tax view and now they're very supportive of [Donald] Trump's. So I think that's got potential.

I had not been involved in any way in planning the event in Mobile. My staff maybe, had really been contacted, but I had never talked to Donald Trump about him coming to Mobile, and I decided - I had something else to do but it became so clear that it was going to be such a big event that I should be there. And he had already adopted my immigration views, in large part, and he was saying things I thought were valuable, about immigration.

They [Republican voters] believe in a foreign policy that puts America first: Give me a break. And so a lot of our drift within our party has gotten away from that.

Republican voters believe we should have a lawful system of immigration that serves the national interest. They don't believe we should enter into - commit the United States to further globalist policies that diminish the sovereignty and freedom of American to act in its own interest.

My advice is to listen and accept the will of the American people, the Republican voters. The Republican Party is the Republican voters, and Republican voters oppose these trade agreements more than Democrat voters do.

We've got people in the Republican Party that just believe that if you just cut taxes for corporations, and that you have more trade, and we just bring in more people from abroad, that this is going to help the average guy. Well, it's not. I mean, this is an honest dispute. We're going to have a dispute about it. The American people agree with [Donald] Trump and I agree with Trump on those things.

[My father] was interested. He read the newspapers and read Time and U.S. News and World Report and people in stores would come along, you know, and they would talk politics.

We've seen what happened in Libya, what a disaster that's been driven by Hillary Clinton, and the disaster in Syria and almost disaster in Egypt. What a close call that's been. We're not out of the woods yet with Egypt.

I had met [Donald] Trump once before, when he testified before a committee that Tom Coburn - Senator Coburn - and I hosted, to deal with excessive expenditures to refurbish the UN building in New York.

He [Donald Trump] is been bold. He's been bold on building a wall.

[Donald Trump] said we're going to have a big door. He means lawful immigration will continue, but we're not going to allow the nation to be at risk in this fashion.

Hybart is a little community I grew up in, so it was just a wonderful time in those years. I was the youngest of about nine boys in the neighborhood and we played ball all the time, and I looked up to them and they let me play around with them, and we just had a good time.

Occasionally [Donald Trump] says things that are too strong and upsets people, and I think he'll work to do better on that.

Thirty years people have been asking for a lawful system of immigration to end this lawlessness, and government on both parties have refused to give it to them.

I've said many times - I told William Buckley, I said, "You warped my mind and I never recovered from it." That was a principled, lawful understanding of the role of government, the Constitution. It was not based on racism, on demagoguery, but on strong principles that - which, consistent with the American heritage and our strength for the future.

[Donald Trump] was a magnificent witness. The reporter, when asking me about his testimony, said, "Sessions gushed about his testimony." But it was remarkable.

We're going to build a wall. Donald Trump never said it's going to go from one end of the country, from the Gulf to the Pacific, and he'll use good judgment about that. And there are ways, through tax and regulation policies, that we can - and immigrant fees - that this could be paid for. I have not studied the details of it but, absolutely, I think that is possible.

My parents, both of them had teachers in their family and were pretty well read. So my father voted for [Dwight] Eisenhower.