President Trump is declining to oppose Jeff Sessions’s run for his former Senate seat, preferring to leave the matter to Alabama voters, according to White House counselor Kellyanne Conway,
Sessions was Trump’s first backer in the Senate, but the two fell out spectacularly when he decided to recuse himself from the Russia investigation while serving as Trump’s attorney general.
He was fired last year and largely disappeared from view, but is expected to announce a Senate run on Thursday.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Conway said Trump had not expressed an opinion. “The president hasn’t said anything,” she said. “I think the president is not willing to deny or divide the people of Alabama their rightful choices.”
Widespread reports in recent days have suggested that Trump would seek to ruin Sessions’ chances by telling Republican primary voters to vote for somebody else.
Sessions, 72, has the name recognition and donor network to make him the presumptive front-runner for the Republican nomination. However, he faces a crowded field, and a Trump endorsement could make all the difference in a state where the president remains hugely popular.
Although Sessions continues to speak up in support of Trump, the feeling is far from mutual.
“I don’t have an attorney general. It’s very sad,” Trump told Hill TV in an interview shortly before demanding Sessions’s resignation.
The primary will also include former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who lost to a Democrat in the special election to replace Sessions two years ago, Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill, and state Rep. Arnold Mooney.
“I think the voters of Alabama should have the right to decide,” Conway said. “Republican voters can decide who their nominee is, and then the voters of Alabama who their senator will be.”
[Opinion: Jeff Sessions probably shouldn’t try a Senate comeback]
