Hoax-busting site Snopes.com says it’s true — a woman was prosecuted (and found guilty) of laughing at Jeff Sessions during his attorney general confirmation hearing.
Code Pink member Desiree Fairooz was prosecuted for disorderly conduct after she laughed during Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s confirmation hearing.
The incident involved Desiree Fairooz, 61, of Bluemont, Virginia, who was arrested in the Capitol after laughing out loud during the introduction of Sessions at a Senate confirmation hearing Jan. 10.
“She was prosecuted on charges of disorderly conduct and parading or demonstrating on capitol grounds, both misdemeanors,” Snopes said.
#RepressingTruth during Attorney General confirmation hearing! Sign & share: https://t.co/uYrvOJryOw https://t.co/20QBKM5MCK via @Fusion
— CODEPINK (@codepink) May 4, 2017
But jurors told Huffington Post it was her behavior when asked to leave, not her laughter, that resulted in the conviction. Fairooz faces up to a year in prison.
What caused the original outburst?
Sen. Richard Shelby was praising Sessions’ “extensive record of treating all Americans equally under the law.”
Cackling commentary:
A woman faces jail time for laughing at Jeff Sessions. So do NOT laugh at how much he looks like my writer Mike’s new baby. pic.twitter.com/t97uMIbO2n
— Stephen Colbert (@StephenAtHome) May 4, 2017
Democracy depends on people being willing to laugh at Jeff Sessions in public.
— Caille Millner (@caillemillner) May 3, 2017
Laugh at Jeff Sessions, get 2 years in jail ???????? https://t.co/DHfRHBlNLO
— Ed Jackson (@EdwinJacksonJr) May 4, 2017
@VanityFair Whenever sessions is seen in public, people should laugh … and point.
— JKo (@suburbangrouse) May 4, 2017
Isn’t it a basic right to laugh at something we find ridiculous? First Amendment?https://t.co/7ZgSIaNKHc
— Nurse Ratched (@veggie64_leslie) May 4, 2017
If I laugh WITH Jeff Sessions, does that make him an accomplice?
— David Waldman (@KagroX) May 3, 2017