Indian-American sexual assault survivor and activist Amita Swadhin has appealed to US lawmakers to reject President-elect Donald Trump’s pick Jeff Sessions as Attorney General, saying having an “anti-women” man in the key post was “incredibly worrisome”.
Testifying before the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee, los Angeles-based Amita Swadhin, who has recounted how she was raped by her father as a child, was called by Democrats on the second day of hearings on Sessions’ nomination. The founder of Mirror Memoirs, an organisation that works to combat child sexual abuse, she said that Sessions is not fit for the job.
“I am here on behalf of survivors of rape and sexual assault to urge you not to confirm Senator Sessions as Attorney General,” Swadhin said.
In the wake of Trump’s comments about groping women becoming public, she said Sessions was quoted stating he does not characterise that behaviour as sexual assault.
“let me be clear — Senator Sessions stated he does not characterise non-consensual genital grabbing as sexual assault. So to hear Senator Sessions initially say President-elect Trump’s comments do not constitute sexual assault, and then to consider him leading the Department of Justice has been incredibly worrisome.