Protesters gathered Thursday evening to voice their disapproval of Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ forced resignation and President Trump’s appointment of Matthew Whitaker as acting Attorney General.
One of many demonstrations mobilized nationwide by the civic action organization MoveOn, the protest included more than 60 participants holding signs and American flags on the south corner of Texas Avenue and University Drive. MoveOn has advocated for protecting the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and its ties to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. According to MoveOn’s website, over 1,000 cities nationwide awaited their call to action, which was triggered by President Trump’s request for Jeff Sessions’ resignation on Wednesday.
The appointment of Whitaker has been called unconstitutional by Neal K. Katyal and George T. Conway III in The New York Times and unlawful by Fox News legal commentator Andrew Napolitano. Theresa “TC” Langford, chair of the Brazos County Democratic Party, asked local political activist to gather and voice their concern.
“Matthew Whitaker is not qualified to be an acting Attorney General, but has proved himself to be a hundred percent Trump loyalist,” Langford said. “He has publically spoken out against the validity of the investigation.”
According to Langford, Sessions’ resignation means a loss of the protections necessary for Rod Rosenstein, Deputy Attorney General, to continue the Russia investigation.
“Now that Sessions is gone, we anticipate that Rosenstein will be asked to leave as well, and Whitaker will say ‘I’m taking over the investigation and I’m shutting it down,’” Langford said.
Local resident and former Trump supporter Christine Lund said she felt the need to act after the continuous dismissals of Trump’s cabinet members. Lund said she viewed Sessions as the last honorable member of Trump’s administration and his resignation was the final straw.
“I’m as conservative as can be,” Lund said. “I was actually saying ‘Yeah, Trump’ when he said ‘drain the swamp.’ What did he do? He put the swamp lizards’ bosses in charge. That’s what got me.”
Texas A&M civil engineer senior Mitchell Haug said Trump’s actions drove him to come out to his first protest.
“I think that it’s just kind of on the verge of tearing up the constitution at this point,” Haug said. “He’s appointing somebody to end an investigation into himself, Donald Trump is, and I don’t think that’s right by any means.”
Haug said President Trump’s actions remind him of Richard Nixon’s Watergate scandal. But Haug doesn’t believe Trump will follow in Nixon’s footsteps.
“Nixon did the same thing and he ended up resigning,” Haug said. “But with the political climate today, I don’t think Donald Trump would do the same thing. So we need to get out here and inform people about it so that there is an outrage.”
Langford said she hopes protests such as this one can bring awareness to the public and create political change that is representative of peoples’ needs and concerns.
“We learned in the election results two days ago that this is not the red conservative county of 15 years ago,” Langford said. “This is a very diverse community. And it’s people who are learning to vote and learning to speak up. It’s young people who are finding their voice and are being assured that their voice matters.”