Jeff Sessions should be charged with contempt and go to jail where 'he belongs’: Former top DOJ official

Attorney General Jeff Sessions belongs in jail for his role in the Trump administration's family separation policy, the former acting general counsel of the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) explained to MSNBC's Katy Tur on Friday.

Retired Judge Paul Schmidt served over a decade at the U.S. Immigration Court in Arlington, Virginia. He also served over a decade as the deputy general counsel of INS and was acting general counsel during the administrations of Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter.

MSNBC correspondent Jacob Soboroff reported a federal judge "threatened to hold the Attorney General of the United States in contempt of court for this behavior by the government."

"Let's remind everybody the latest numbers of families who are still separated at the border," Tur noted, putting a graphic on screen.

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"Paul, we do know that it's going to be really difficult to reunite those families, to find those parents who have already been deported," Tur noted. "Is it going to come to Jeff Sessions actually being held in contempt? And what does that look like?"

"It should. it should," Judge Schmidt replied. "Katy, this is, I'm stunned -- absolutely stunned -- as somebody that worked for the Justice Department for 35 years, been involved in the field for 45 years."

"I am stunned, just stunned, just stunned," he repeated.

"I think Sessions definitely should be held in contempt and ultimately he can go to jail and that's exactly where he belongs," Judge Schmidt concluded.

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