A Friday night tweet from President Donald Trump repeating his support for former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville in Alabama’s Republican senate runoff resulted in a fiery response from Tuberville’s opponent, Jeff Sessions.
While Trump’s message on social media blasted Sessions, setting the foundation for the president’s reiterating his backing of Tuberville, Sessions replied with his sharpest language yet to Trump -- pushing back at the president after years of refusing to speak out against him.
And in a follow-up tweet, Sessions called Tuberville a “coward” for refusing to debate leading up to the July 14 runoff.
Despite being badgered publicly by Trump through his almost two-year tenure as U.S. attorney general, Sessions has remained supportive of the president since leaving office. Sessions’ recusal to an investigation into potential Russia meddling in the 2016 presidential election shattered a campaign trail bond with Trump in the eyes of the president. The result of Sessions’ recusal was the Mueller investigation that dogged Trump for much of his presidency.
Sessions has repeatedly said he had no choice but to remove himself from the case because he worked so closely with the Trump campaign.
But Sessions’ late-night rebuke perhaps added a jolt to the primary runoff that has fallen from the state spotlight amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“Look, I know your anger but recusal was required by law,” Sessions said on Twitter, tagging Trump’s account. “I did my duty and you’re damn fortunate I did. It protected the rule of law and resulted in your exoneration. Your personal feelings do not dictate who Alabama picks as their senator, the people of Alabama do.”
Sessions’ late night comments were set off by the president’s tweet at 6:10 p.m. trashing Sessions -- who he fired as AG in November 2018 -- and praising Tuberville.
Trump described Tuberville – a political newcomer – as “the true supporter of our #MAGA agenda!”
The full text of Trump’s tweet:
"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 Tommy Tuberville, the true supporter of our #MAGA agenda."
Trump's tweet also included a link to Tuberville's fundraising website.
Trump first endorsed Tuberville on March 10 after the former coach won a plurality of votes in the GOP primary. Tuberville and Sessions, the runner-up, advanced to the runoff because no candidate received a majority of the votes. The runoff has been rescheduled for July 14 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump's message was part of his retweet of a Tuberville message from last Sunday in which Tuberville said Sessions had thrown Trump "to the wolves with the Mueller appointment."
Meanwhile, Tuberville -- in addition to retweeting Trump’s support -- posted on Facebook less than an hour after Trump’s tweet.
“It is now clear that President Donald Trump cannot trust Jeff Sessions to support him,” Tuberville posted on his Senate campaign Facebook page. “He said just today that Alabamians cannot trust him. Let’s stand together with the President and fire Jeff Sessions once and for all!”
Tuberville then linked to his online fundraising page.
Sessions immediately followed up his rebuke of Trump on Twitter with a rebuke of Tuberville to Trump.
“Tuberville’s a coward who is rightly too afraid to debate me,” Sessions’ tweet said. “He says you’re wrong on China & trade. He wants to bring in even more foreign workers to take American jobs. That’s not your agenda and it’s not mine or Alabama’s. I know Alabama. Tuberville doesn’t.”
The Mueller investigation lasted more than a year with two principal findings: There was no evidence that the Trump campaign worked with Russia officials to help him win the White House and that evidence was inconclusive that Trump had obstructed justice.
In public speeches before declaring his senate candidacy and during the campaign, Sessions had voiced support for Trump and his policies.
As recently as Thursday, Sessions retweeted a Trump message critical of China, saying in part, “@realDonaldTrump is absolutely right.”
The Trump re-election campaign also sent a letter to Sessions’ campaign in March, insisting that the former longtime Alabama senator stop making connections to himself and Trump.
A public poll released earlier this week showed Tuberville with a more than 20 point lead over Sessions.
Updated May 23, 2020 at 12:09 a.m. with response from Sessions.
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