--- title: Jeff Sessions: 'I Wasn't Criticizing' Hawaii With Comment description: Jeff Sessions said he "wasn't criticizing" Hawaii when he referred to it as "an island in the Pacific" earlier this week canonical: https://time.com/4750534/jeff-sessions-hawaii-island-in-the-pacific/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-21T16:48:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T08:46:59.973Z article:section: Politics og:title: Jeff Sessions: 'I Wasn't Criticizing' Hawaii og:description: After he seemingly dismissed it an "island in the Pacific" og:url: https://time.com/4750534/jeff-sessions-hawaii-island-in-the-pacific/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd094b4333f1e3254/6988be007cdbac7693d57718/jeff-sessions4.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Tillerson, Kelly And Sessions Announce New Immigration Executive Order og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Jeff Sessions: 'I Wasn't Criticizing' Hawaii twitter:description: After he seemingly dismissed it an "island in the Pacific" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd094b4333f1e3254/6988be007cdbac7693d57718/jeff-sessions4.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Jeff Sessions: 'I Wasn't Criticizing' Hawaii by Calling It 'an Island in the Pacific' > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=4f756592-24c6-4e33-98ae-138fdef4ad54&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Jeff Sessions: 'I Wasn't Criticizing' Hawaii by Calling It 'an Island in the Pacific' [Watch (HLS stream): Jeff Sessions: 'I Wasn't Criticizing' Hawaii by Calling It 'an Island in the Pacific'](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/QlvpacU1.m3u8) (0:44)  _Published 2017-04-21. Attorney General Jeff Sessions landed in hot water Thursday for a seemingly dismissive comment towards Hawaii when he called it "an island in the Pacific" — but he says he did not mean to insult the state._  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Apr 21, 2017 4:48 PM UTC Attorney General Jeff Sessions landed in hot water Thursday for a seemingly dismissive comment towards Hawaii when he called it "an island in the Pacific" — but he says he did not mean to insult the state.  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Apr 21, 2017 4:48 PM UTC Attorney General Jeff Sessions [landed in hot water](http://time.com/4749822/hawaii-ag-doug-chin-responds-jeff-sessions/) Thursday for a seemingly dismissive comment towards Hawaii when he called it “[an island in the Pacific](http://time.com/4749244/jeff-sessions-hawaii-island-pacific/)” — but he says he did not mean to insult the state. “I wasn’t criticizing the judge or the island,” Sessions [told CNN](http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/21/politics/jeff-sessions-hawaii-comment-cnntv/index.html) on Friday. “I think it’s a fabulous place and had a granddaughter born there.” His original comment came while he was discussing a federal judge who blocked President Trump’s revised travel ban. “I really am amazed that a judge sitting on an island in the Pacific can issue an order that stops the President of the United States from what appears to be clearly his statutory and Constitutional power,” Sessions said at the time. Although he didn’t walk back his statement Friday, saying, “I don’t know that I said anything I would want to phrase differently,” Sessions did clarify what he meant. “I was just raising the point of that issue of a single judge taking such a dramatic action and the impact it can have,” he said. ## Transcript No I wasn't criticising the judge or the island, I think it's a fabulous place and had a granddaughter born there. But I got to tell you it is a point worth making that a single sitting district judge out of 600, 700 district judges. Can issue an order, stopping a presidential executive order that I believe is fully constitutional, designed to protect the United States of America from terrorist attack. And I was just raising the point about that issue of a single judge taking such a dramatic action and the impact it can have. 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