Senate Republicans from the South took issue with President Trump’s reportedly derisive comments about Attorney General Jeff Sessions, reminding him that he wouldn’t have been elected if it weren’t for support from Southern states.
According to a new book set for release by Bob Woodward, Trump reportedly said that Sessions was a “dumb southerner,” “mentally retarded,” and mocked the former Alabama senator’s accent. Senate Republicans didn’t take kindly to that, many of whom are allies of Sessions and don’t want him removed from atop the Justice Department.
[More: Trump’s assault against Jeff Sessions has GOP squeamish]
“I guess the president says what he thinks. I think the president probably has got a lot of respect for the South,” said Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala. “He did well there.”
“Without the South, he wouldn’t be president,” Shelby told reporters. “And probably nobody else would.”
The Alabama Republican has been a steadfast defender of the attorney general, with whom he served in the upper chamber for 20 years.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who says he expects Sessions to be relieved of his post after the midterm elections, believes the comment was “demeaning” to the attorney general
“If true, that is inappropriate,” Graham said. “I don’t think it’s fair to Jeff, if it was said … It’s demeaning to Jeff Sessions. Even his worst critic I think would say he’s a decent man. It’s probably not helpful to characterize the region that way, but most people in the South like what Trump is doing.”
Graham also believes that while the book is making waves in Washington, voters in Alabama and other Southern states will not pay any attention to it.
“They’re not going to read Woodward’s book, and it won’t matter,” Graham said. “Bob Woodward is a good reporter.”
The remarks in the book, titled “Fear: Trump in the White House,” is the latest example of the feud between the president and Sessions, who was the first member of the Senate to endorse him during the 2016 campaign.
“This guy is mentally retarded. He’s this dumb Southerner. … He couldn’t even be a one-person country lawyer down in Alabama,” Trump said, according to Woodward.
Over the weekend, Trump tweeted out his dismay at the Department of Justice for indicting two sitting GOP congressmen ahead of the midterm elections.
