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JEFF SESSIONS AND PRESIDENT TRUMP’S ‘PERSONAL FEELINGS.’ The former Alabama senator and U.S. Attorney General is in a surreal place. He was a huge help to President Trump’s 2016 campaign — the first, and for a long time, the only senator to endorse him. Then he was Trump’s attorney general. And then, 21 days into his new job, everything went to hell.
Sessions famously recused himself from supervising the Trump-Russia investigation, and Trump never, ever forgave him for it. Trump blames Sessions for the special counsel that followed, even though it was the result of Trump’s firing of Comey, and not Sessions’ recusal. Sessions remained in the AG job until November 2018, but Trump clearly could not stand the sight of him.
Fast forward to today. Deep-red Alabama has a Democratic senator, Doug Jones — that’s another, equally odd story — who is now up for re-election. There was a primary to pick the Republican candidate who will almost certainly defeat Jones in November. Sessions finished a close second to former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville, who won by a little less than two percentage points. A runoff is scheduled for July 14.
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Now Trump is bashing Sessions every chance he gets. A few days ago, the president tweeted, “3 years ago, after Jeff Sessions recused himself, the Fraudulent Mueller Scam began. Alabama, do not trust Jeff Sessions. He let our country down. That’s why I endorsed Coach Tommy Tuberville.”
That was finally it for Sessions, who responded with obvious irritation. “Look, I know your anger,” he tweeted to the president, “but recusal was required by law. I did my duty & you’re damn fortunate I did. It protected the rule of law & resulted in your exoneration. Your personal feelings don’t dictate who Alabama picks as their senator, the people of Alabama do.” The political world’s collective response was: Whoa! Now this is getting interesting.
Then Trump upped the ante again. “Jeff, you had your chance & you blew it,” he tweeted. “Recused yourself ON DAY ONE (you never told me of a problem), and ran for the hills. You had no courage, & ruined many lives…”
“Mr. President, Alabama can and does trust me, as do conservatives across the country,” Sessions responded. “Perhaps you’ve forgotten.”
Who knows where it could go next? On Monday, I asked Sessions if he is surprised by the degree to which Trump seems to hold the entire Russia investigation against him. “Yes, I am surprised about that,” he said. “But his frustration is not all unjustified. It’s becoming more and more clear that there were problems with this investigation. There may have been political bias. Barr is exactly right that we need to know whether commencing an investigation of a campaign had sufficient predicate.”
I mentioned to Sessions that Trump’s last interventions in an Alabama Senate race, when he first backed losing Republican primary candidate Luther Strange and then losing Republican general election candidate Roy Moore, resulted in the election of the current Democratic Sen. Doug Jones. “He did make two recommendations, both of which the voters did not follow,” Sessions said. “I would just say that indicates Alabamians do make their own decisions.”
“In this instance,” Sessions continued, “the president’s personal frustrations — he’s asking the people of Alabama basically to effectuate his personal feelings about this issue. I’m asking them to send a senator who can best advance Alabama values, Trump values, Sessions values, to make a decision based on what’s best for Alabama.”
How many times does a top Republican Senate candidate refer to the Republican president’s “personal feelings”? Sessions finds himself in an unprecedented situation only partially of his own making. But he is convinced he was correct in recusing himself from the Russia investigation, even if it means losing. “My conscience is clear,” Sessions said. “Doing the right thing is more important to me than even my own political career.”
