--- description: Attorney General Jeff Sessions laughed and repeated the phrase "lock her up" as a crowd of students began chanting the phrase at an event. title: Jeff Sessions Laughs as Students Chant 'Lock Her Up' at Conservative Event image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt53eb16ec3b2e389e/69893612096a945bfa6a2fc0/gettyimages-1001282834.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Jeff Sessions](/tag/jeff-sessions/) ## Jeff Sessions Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Jeff Sessions Laughs as Students Chant 'Lock Her Up' at Conservative Event by [Siobhan Morrin](/author/siobhan-morrin/) ## Siobhan Morrin Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 24, 2018 6:33 PM CUT  Attorney General Jeff Sessions looks on during a cabinet meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Cabinet Room of the White House, July 18, 2018 in Washington, DC. Attorney General Jeff Sessions looks on during a cabinet meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Cabinet Room of the White House, July 18, 2018 in Washington, DC.Olivier Douliery—Pool/Getty Images by [Siobhan Morrin](/author/siobhan-morrin/) ## Siobhan Morrin Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 24, 2018 6:33 PM CUT Attorney General Jeff Sessions laughed and repeated the phrase “lock her up” as a crowd of students at the conference he was addressing Tuesday began chanting the common refrain from Donald Trump’s campaign rallies. Sessions criticized universities during his remarks to the Turning Point USA’s High School Leadership Summit, accusing them of “coddling” students and restricting freedom of speech. He criticized “safe spaces,” “trigger warnings” and “therapy goats” and the crowd began to jeer in agreement as he referred to “Play-Doh and coloring books at the University of Michigan” and students who were told to “draw about their feelings at Tufts.” As he went off script from his prepared remarks to praise the attendees, the audience began to chant, and Sessions repeated the line while laughing. Trump repeatedly use the chant – referring to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton – at his rallies as a candidate, and supporters have continued to use the phrase after he was sworn in. During the election campaign, Trump criticized Clinton’s use of a private email server, and [during the second presidential debate](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/10/debate-donald-trump-threatens-to-jail-hillary-clinton "undefined") said that she “would be in jail” if he became president. Shortly after winning the election Trump said he did not plan to investigate her, but has since brought up the subject of her private email server when discussing Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the election. Trump has also repeatedly criticized Sessions for failing to intervene in the investigations relating to the 2016 election. In February, [Trump called Sessions “disgraceful”](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/968856971075051521 "undefined") for calling on the Inspector General instead of Justice Department lawyers to investigate potential abuse of surveillance laws by agents investigating former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. Trump also told [the New York _Times_](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/19/us/politics/trump-interview-sessions-russia.html "undefined") last July that he would not have appointed Sessions as Attorney General if he’d known that Sessions would recuse himself from overseeing the still-ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5347160/jeff-sessions-lock-her-up-students-chant/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5347160/jeff-sessions-lock-her-up-students-chant/"},"headline":"Jeff Sessions Laughs as Students Chant 'Lock Her Up' at Conservative Event","datePublished":"2018-07-24T18:33:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T20:56:27.104Z","description":"The Attorney General laughed and joined the crowd chanting the phrase frequently used about Hillary Clinton during the presidential campaign","url":"https://time.com/5347160/jeff-sessions-lock-her-up-students-chant/","keywords":["Jeff Sessions"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt53eb16ec3b2e389e/69893612096a945bfa6a2fc0/gettyimages-1001282834.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Siobhan Morrin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/siobhan-morrin/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt53eb16ec3b2e389e/69893612096a945bfa6a2fc0/gettyimages-1001282834.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"jeff-sessions-speech","caption":"President Trump Holds A Cabinet Meeting","creditText":"Olivier Douliery—Pool/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/jeff-sessions/","name":"Jeff Sessions"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5347160/jeff-sessions-lock-her-up-students-chant/","name":"Jeff Sessions Laughs as Students Chant 'Lock Her Up' at Conservative Event"}}]}] ```