CNN’s Jake Tapper chastised Ira Madison Tuesday after the MTV News host accused Jeff Sessions of using his Asian grandchildren as props during his attorney general confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill.
Jeff Sessions sits with his granddaughter on Capitol Hill (Getty Images)
In a now deleted tweet, Madison told Sessions to return the child to the “Toys R Us” he “stole” it from before noting “there is no reason for that child to be in his lap in a hearing other than to send an ‘I’m not racist message.'”
The girl on Sessions’ lap is not adopted, it’s his granddaughter. Which is not surprising.
— Ira Madison III (@ira) January 10, 2017
Why is she a prop? Sessions argued for policy that in the 1880s was used to discriminate against Asian Americans https://t.co/sZitqzLBS4
— Ira Madison III (@ira) January 10, 2017
There is no reason for that child to be in his lap in a hearing other than to send an “I’m not racist message”
— Ira Madison III (@ira) January 10, 2017
In fact, Americans have long used Asian-Americans as “model minorities” since the rise of the civil rights act https://t.co/IwFwt4vXpX
— Ira Madison III (@ira) January 10, 2017
Tapper clearly took issue with Madison’s “disgusting tweet.”
Disgusting tweet. The little girl is his granddaughter. Delete your account and find some humanity. https://t.co/8OZUtY5FcA
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) January 10, 2017
“The little girl is his granddaughter,” he wrote. “Delete your account and find some humanity.”
Jake Tapper listens while sitting in an a panel with Hugh Hewitt, Ted Koppel and Jonathan Alter to discuss the 2016 presidential race (Getty Images)
Several members of Sessions’ family accompanied him to Tuesday’s hearing, including his daughter Ruth Sessions Walk and her four children.
Sessions Walk is married to John Walk, who is of Asian descent.