Trump slams Jeff Sessions after Super Tuesday as ex-AG heads into run-off against Tommy Tuberville
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump slammed his ex-Attorney General Jeff Sessions following Super Tuesday voting, a hint he may work against his former ally in Sessions' bid to reclaim his old Alabama Senate seat.
In tweets Wednesday, Trump highlighted how Sessions failed to get enough votes to win the GOP nomination outright, forcing him into a Republican run-off with former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville.
"This is what happens to someone who loyally gets appointed Attorney General of the United States & then doesn’t have the wisdom or courage to stare down & end the phony Russia Witch Hunt," Trump tweeted.
Blaming Sessions for the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller to investigate Russia involvement in the 2016 election, Trump also tweeted of his former attorney general: "Recuses himself on FIRST DAY in office, and the Mueller Scam begins!"
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Sessions and Tuberville will compete in a March 31 run-off for the Alabama Republican nomination to the Senate. The winner faces incumbent Democrat Doug Jones in November.
Early in the morning, Trump retweeted an AP story reporting that Tuberville had forced a run-off with Sessions.
While Trump did not explicitly endorse Tuberville in his anti-Sessions tweet, many Trump associates took it that way.
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“I think President Trump just ended the Alabama Senate contest with his tweet," said Jason Miller, a senior communications adviser for Trump's campaign in 2016. "Whether or not there’s a formal endorsement is secondary at this point.”
Trump aides have said in recent weeks they do expect Trump to back Sessions' opponent, saying the president is still mad at his attorney general.
A former state attorney general and U.S. attorney in Alabama, Sessions won election to the Senate in 1996. He was the first member of that body to endorse Trump's maverick presidential candidacy in 2016, one of the reasons Trump appointed him U.S. attorney general.
Under fire from Trump over the Russia investigation, Sessions left the Justice Department in late 2018.
Sessions has said nice things about Trump during his current Senate campaign, but the flattery does not appear mutual.
While Sessions was never implicated in Russian election interference, as attorney general he recused himself from the investigation because he had spoken with Russian officials during the 2016 campaign.
The Justice Department itself initially investigated the Russia allegations, but officials decided to appoint a special counsel after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey in May of 2017. Sessions took no part in that decision.
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But critics said Trump pressured Sessions to have Mueller fired. They also said Trump is still attacking his former attorney general as part of an effort to obstruct investigations into Russia and his 2016 campaign.
"'Loyally appointed' is the kind of servant Trump wants, one loyal to him *against* the Constitution and the American people," tweeted Walter Shaub, former director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics.
Shaub added that Trump is "still furious that Sessions recused when he had a conflict of interest," but he is also "talking to his current appointees" still in the administration. "Bow down to the one you serve," he wrote.
