Senate committee advances Alabama US attorney blasted by Democrats as Jan. 6 ‘sympathizer’

WASHINGTON (CN) — The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday advanced President Donald Trump’s nominee to become a U.S. attorney in Alabama, rising above complaints from Democrats that he was a “sympathizer” of rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The upper chamber’s legal affairs panel sent Phil Williams, tapped by the president last year to become a federal prosecutor for the Northern District of Alabama, on a 12-10 party line vote. But the committee’s top Democratic lawmaker warned his confirmation was “symbolic” of Trump’s desire to cement his claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen — and to justify “interfering” in the upcoming midterms.

“He wants loyal prosecutors who will help him carry out the solution,” said Illinois Senator Dick Durbin. He added that Williams, a civil law attorney, former member of the Alabama Senate and conservative talk radio host, had no prosecutorial experience and was not “ready for the job.”

“Is it too much for the Senate to ask a nominee to at least have darkened a courtroom, perhaps even served as a prosecutor, if they want to be the chief federal prosecutor of their state?” Durbin asked.

Pressing his claim that Williams was a “Jan. 6 sympathizer,” Durbin pointed to comments made by the nominee during an August 2025 broadcast of his show on conservative talk radio program Rightside Radio, in which he referred to the prosecutions of Capitol rioters as “like the Salem witch trials on a national scale.”

Williams acknowledged at the time that the Jan. 6 riot, during which a mob of Trump supporters breached the Capitol in an effort to block Congress from certifying former President Joe Biden’s election victory, “went places perhaps it never should have gone.”

“But it was not an insurrection,” said the federal prosecutor nominee. “Never was.” Williams claimed that the Capitol riot did not rise to the definition of “insurrection” because there was “no attempt to overthrow the government.”

Trump has long claimed the 2020 presidential election was “rigged,” despite courts finding no evidence to support his charges of widespread voter fraud. The president’s claims of election malfeasance formed at least part of the basis of the 2021 Capitol riot.

But Williams during his radio show argued Jan. 6 had become a “political football” for Democrats who had “no policies and no successes to stand on.”

Durbin on Thursday slammed the nominee as a “MAGA extremist” and criticized him for opposing sentences handed down to several convicted Capitol rioters, such as Guy Reffitt. According to prosecutors, Reffitt entered the Capitol on Jan. 6 wearing body armor and carrying a handgun and flexible handcuffs often used by law enforcement. The Illinois Democrat pointed out that Williams had characterized the convicted rioter as “nonviolent.”

“This U.S. attorney nominee Phil Williams thinks he was mistreated, not violent,” said Durbin.

Reffitt, the first Capitol rioter to face trial, was one of the more than 1,000 convicted rioters granted clemency by Trump at the beginning of his second administration as part of a blanket pardon.

But while Democrats scrutinized Williams’ comments on Jan. 6, Republicans on the Judiciary Committee argued the nominee was eminently qualified for the role and defended his position on the Capitol riot.

Alabama Senator Katie Britt told her colleagues that Williams’ legal career spanned “over two decades” and that as a private practice attorney he’d appeared in court over 700 times and tried more than 30 cases to verdict. She also pointed to his military service — Williams served two combat tours in Afghanistan and Iraq with the U.S. Army Reserve.

And Britt said the nominee had been “publicly consistently clear” that he opposed violence that occurred during the Capitol riot. She argued Williams has previously said he thought violent acts on Jan. 6 were not “worthy of support” and that he’d spoken out against rioters assaulting law enforcement, breaking windows and entering the offices of members of Congress.

“Violence is never acceptable, whether we’re talking about back then or whether we’re talking about the ongoing violence against ICE and other federal law enforcement officers,” the Alabama Republican told the committee.

Williams’ nomination now heads to the Senate floor where he must face a final confirmation vote.

One notable Republican vote for the nominee Thursday was North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis, a vocal critic of Trump judicial nominees who he felt downplayed the events of the Capitol riot. Tillis was instrumental last year in sinking Ed Martin’s appointment as U.S. attorney for D.C. — he argued at the time that Martin’s past criticism of Jan. 6 prosecutions disqualified him to serve as lead federal prosecutor in the capital city.

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