Former Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid has a soft spot for GOP Sen. Jeff Sessions, President-elect Trump’s nominee for attorney general who will be appearing Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee for his confirmation hearing.
“I kind of like Jeff Sessions,” the Democrat told his staff, who reportedly groaned, two weeks before he bid farewell to the U.S. Senate after 30 years. “I believe he’d be an awful – I mean an awful – choice for attorney general, but on a personal basis he’s been very nice to me. So I’m going to say it’s a bad choice, but I’m not going to go after him like I did [Mitt] Romney.”
Reid was referring to his past comments about Romney during the 2012 campaign where he alleged that the then-GOP presidential nominee had not paid taxes for the previous 12 years.
“You have to understand, there’s nothing in the world that says you have to be consistent,” Reid quipped afterwards.
The comments were first reported by the Reno Gazette-Journal, who sat in on the meeting.
Reid told his staff in a Nov. 29 meeting prior to a press conference that he did not want to personally attack Sessions and say that he, along with Rep. Tom Price, Trump’s choice to run the Department of Health and Human Services, would be the “worst” choice possible. He argued Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, Trump’s incoming national security advisor, holds that spot.
“I think if you say Price is not the worst person possible, women’s groups are probably going to get whiplash. I assume Sessions from other people’s perspective, too,” a staffer told the longtime Nevada Democrat, pointing to Sessions’ 1986 rejection from a federal judgeship after allegations of racism.
“They are pretty much the worst,” said Kristen Orthman, Reid’s communications director said. Another staffer suggested that Reid allow new Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and other Democratic leaders answer the question, but Reid said that it would be “very hard for me not to say something.”
In the ensuing press conference, Reid decidedly did not mention Sessions or Price, who had just been nominated to their respective posts only days prior. When asked about the nominations more broadly, Reid attacked Betsy DeVos, Trump’s nominee to run the Department of Education, adding that he is going to miss the nominations.
Reid is not the only Democrat to say something positive about the Alabama Republican personally. Schumer has noted multiple times since Sessions’ nomination that the two work out together at the Capitol gym.
