By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
In the 2016 Election Campaign, US Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama) was the first member of the Senate to endorse Trump. Sen. Sessions loaned aides to the Trump campaign, appeared on stage in Mobile with Trump, when virtually every other nationally known Republican was dismissing Trump as unqualified for the office. Sessions campaigned relentlessly and Trump was effusive in his praise for the popular US Senator from Alabama. Sessions reportedly had his pick of high level cabinet posts. Trump nominated him to be US Attorney General.
Multiple media outlets are reporting, however, that the once close relationship between Sessions and the President has badly deteriorated, so much that Sessions has offered his resignation.
The friction between the two men reportedly stems from the Attorney General’s abrupt decision in March to recuse himself from anything related to the Russia investigation. Sessions reportedly made that decision on his own and the President only learned about minutes before Sessions announced it publicly. ABC News claims that their multiple sources say the recusal is one of the top disappointments of his presidency so far, and one the President has remained fixated on.
Trump reportedly has lashed out at the Attorney General in private meetings, blaming Sessions’ decision to recuse himself for the expansion of the Russia investigation, now overseen by Special Counsel and former FBI Director Robert Mueller.
Justice Department spokesperson Sarah Isgur Flores recently refused to comment on reports that Sessions offered his resignation.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer refused to answer if the President still has confidence in his Attorney General. Instead Spicer said, “I have not had that discussion with him.”
“So you can’t say if he has confidence in his Attorney General?” Spicer was asked. “I said I have not had a discussion with him on the question,” Spicer responded. “I don’t, If I haven’t had a discussion about a subject, I tend not to speak about it.”
The White House is reportedly bracing for upcoming Senate testimony from former FBI Director James Comey about private conversations he had with the President about the allegations that the Trump campaign colluded with Russian intelligence in the 2016 campaign.
During his confirmation hearings, then Senator Sessions claimed he had forgotten about two meetings he had with the Russian Ambassador, when asked if he knew of any contacts between the Russian government and the Trump campaign. This public revelation that he could potentially be a subject in the Russian investigation led AG Sessions to make the decision to recuse himself from the investigation into the Russian scandal.
Sessions is arguably the most popular person in Alabama politics. If Sessions were to leave the Justice Department he would be a formidable candidate for Governor or any other statewide office in 2018. In his 2014 re-election, no opponent would come forward from either political party to challenge the enormously popular Sessions. Sessions previously served as Alabama Attorney General, Alabama Republican Party Chairman, and US Attorney.
