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A GOP group steps up to boost Jeff Sessions

A Republican non-profit group that pummeled Democrat Hillary Clinton with negative advertising last year is back on the air with a new commercial, this time urging the U.S. Senate to confirm Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions as attorney general.

<p><span style="color: rgb(26, 26, 26); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">Jeff Sessions gets out in front of the main reviewing stand in front of the White House during the Inaugural Parade on January 20, 2017. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)</span></p>

A Republican non-profit group that pummeled Democrat Hillary Clinton with negative advertising last year is back on the air with a new commercial, this time urging the U.S. Senate to confirm Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions as attorney general.

The 30-second ad from the 45Committee calls Sessions a “civil rights champion” who will “put public safety first.”

The 45Committee is part of the political network tied to TD Ameritrade founder J. Joe Ricketts. The Ricketts clan, which owns the Chicago Cubs, initially funded efforts to defeat Donald Trump during the Republican primaries before swinging to his side last fall.

The 45Committee can raise and spend unlimited sums but doesn’t have to disclose its donors’ identities.

Another Ricketts-aligned organization active in 2016, a super PAC called Future45, received the lion’s share of its money from casino magnate and Trump supporter Sheldon Adelson and his wife Miriam Adelson, who donated a combined $20 million. Ricketts gave $1 million to Future45, and Linda McMahon, the WWE co-founder whom Trump has tapped to run the Small Business administration, contributed $1.2 million.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote Tuesday on Sessions’ confirmation.

Another conservative group, the Judicial Crisis Network, funded a digital advertising campaign to support Sessions ahead of his confirmation hearings in the Senate earlier this month.

The Judicial Crisis Network and other conservative groups are expected to spend big sums on another confirmation fight looming in Washington: Trump’s still-to-be-named pick for the Supreme Court.

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