Cleaver Says Failure to Confirm Loretta Lynch Would Show Racism Persists
The Democratic lawmaker's comments add to a growing debate over race in relation to the attorney general nominee's confirmation.
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver is pictured March 25, 2015
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Republicans blocking the confirmation of U.S. attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch risk playing into a theme that their opposition to President Barack Obama is based on race, Representative Emanuel Cleaver said.
A failure to confirm Lynch, who would be the first black woman to hold the post, would offer further evidence that race relations have deteriorated as Republicans in Congress have squared off with the first black president, Cleaver, a Missouri Democrat, said at a meeting with Bloomberg reporters and editors Wednesday in Washington.