Attorney General Jeff Sessions addressed Saturday's mass shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh during and address before members of the Federalist Society, a conservative legal organization, at the Omni Parker House in Boston Monday morning.
Sessions said that Tree of Life Synagogue congregants were “targeted because of their faith," and that "the Justice Department and FBI intend to do our duty in this matter,” including seeking the death penalty for the accused killer.
Session also said religious intolerance will not and cannot be tolerated. His speech was interrupted by two clergymen.
One man, wearing a clerical collar, rose from his seat, began reciting a passage from the Bible and called on Sessions to "repent and care for those in need." As the men protested, crowd members booed at them and shouted: "Go home!"
As they were being escorted out by police, one of them, identifying himself as a Baptist minister, asked "How can you speak of religious freedom when you are kicking us out?"
After they men were removed, Sessions defended the administration's immigration policies, saying he doesn't believe there's anything in the scripture or his theology that says "a secular nation state cannot have laws to control immigration in its country."
"It's not immoral, it's not indecent and it's not unkind to state what your laws are and then set out to enforce them," Sessions said.
Sessions, who in July announced the creation of a "religious liberty task force" to implement Justice Department guidance on accommodating religious beliefs, said the Trump administration will continue to fight against what he described as efforts to erode religious freedom protections.
"These are deeply troubling incidents that should concern everyone, religious or otherwise who care about our Constitution," he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
