Sen. Jeff Sessions, President-elect Donald Trump's pick for attorney general, paid a glowing tribute to liberal-turned-conservative activist David Horowitz as he was grilled about their alliance by Sen. Richard Blumenthal during this week's Senate confirmation hearings.
"He's a most brilliant individual and has a remarkable story," Sessions, an Alabama Republican, told Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat.
Sessions' defense of Horowitz, who heads the David Horowitz Freedom Center, came as Blumenthal criticized the activist for allegedly making anti-Semitic and racist statements and then asked why Sessions had described him as "a man I admire."
Sessions, who the Horowitz foundation in 2014 awarded in the Annie Taylor Award for Courage, named for the first person to survive a trip over the Niagara Falls in a barrel, answered: "I don't believe David Horowitz is a racist or a person that would treat anyone improperly."
Horowitz is the author of the new book, "Big Agenda: President Trump's Plan to Save America," which publisher Humanix describes as "a White House battle plan to halt the Democrats' march to extinguish the values America holds dear."
Reached by Newsmax on Thursday, Horowitz said of Sessions:
"Jeff Sessions is one of the most decent and courageous individuals in Congress, and absolutely the best man Trump could have picked to be attorney general."
He was also critical of the accusations of Blumenthal, whom he said had once "lied about serving in Vietnam."
Horowitz's foundation describes one of its missions as combating "the efforts of the radical left and its Islamist allies to destroy American values and disarm this country as it attempts to defend itself in a time of terror."