Trump campaign blasts Jeff Sessions as 'delusional,' demands Senate campaign stop promoting ties to president
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President Trump’s re-election campaign on Thursday blasted former Jeff Sessions as “delusional” and demanded that the former attorney general “immediately stop” promoting ties to the president in his primary campaign for the U.S. Senate in Alabama.
Trump campaign chief operation officer Michael Glassner, in a scathing letter to Sessions, slammed his campaign’s efforts to show his “support” for the president -- despite Sessions' and Trump's rocky history.
ALABAMA POSTPONES PRIMARY RUNOFF PITTING SESSIONS AGAINST TRUMP-ENDORSED TUBERVILLE
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“The Trump Campaign has learned that your U.S. Senate campaign is circulating mailers like the one I have enclosed, in which you misleadingly promote your connections to and ‘support’ of President Trump,” Glassner wrote in the letter, which was first reported by The New York Times and later obtained by Fox News.
Glassner attached the mailer, which was a form for Sessions’ donors and mentioned Trump by name “22 times.”
“The letter even makes the delusional assertion that you are President Trump’s “#1 Supporter,” Glassner wrote. “We only assume your campaign is doing this to confuse President Trump’s loyal supporters in Alabama into believing the President supports your candidacy in the upcoming primary runoff election.”
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He added: “Nothing could be further from the truth.”
“We want to be absolutely clear about it,” Glassner wrote. “President Trump and the Trump Campaign unambiguously endorse Tommy Tuberville.”
TRUMP SNUBS SESSIONS, ENDORSES TUBERVILLE IN ALABAMA SENATE RACE
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Glassner went on to quote the president’s March 10 endorsement of Tuberville, Sessions’ primary rival and the former head football coach at Auburn, where he called him a “winner” and said he “has my Complete and Total Endorsement.”
“President Trump and his Campaign do not support your efforts to return to the U.S. Senate,” Glassner wrote. “We demand that you and your campaign immediately stop circulating mailers—or any other similar communication—that wrongly suggest otherwise.”
Senior adviser for Sessions, Gail Gitcho, told Fox News Thursday that Sessions is "indeed one of the strongest supporters of President Trump and his agenda. That is just fact."
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“He was the first to endorse and he remains faithful to the Trump agenda. No one can change that," Gitcho said. "Jeff Sessions principles, just like his faith, are immovable. He was all in on the Trump agenda before the campaign even started, and is one of the architects of it. No letter from any lawyer will change that."
Gitcho explained to Fox News that the fundraising document in question by the Trump campaign "was in the process of being mailed before" the president endorsed Tuberville.
"The fundraising letter was mailed on March 6 and the Trump endorsement came on March 10," she said.
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Gitcho went on to slam Tuberville, saying he is "looking for people to hide behind," and that he is "scared to debate" Sessions.
“Tuberville likes to brag he is strong, but he's actually a coward," she said, adding that "he knows almost nothing about the state of Alabama."
Both Both Tuberville and Sessions will be on the GOP ticket for a runoff election after no candidate received 50 percent of the vote in last month’s GOP primary. That runoff was originally scheduled for this Tuesday, but due to coronavirus, was postponed until July 14.
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Sessions previously held the Senate seat he is running for, which Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala., now holds before he vacated it to become Trump’s attorney general.
Before their relationship soured, Sessions was one of Trump's most prominent supporters -- he was the first senator to endorse Trump's presidential campaign in 2016. But the president fired Sessions as his attorney general in November 2018 after frustration over Sessions' recusal from the Russia investigation.
Last month, Sessions responded to Trump’s endorsement of Tuberville by tweeting that the president “can endorse anyone he chooses for the U.S. Senate election in Alabama. But the Constitution expressly empowers the people of Alabama, and only them, to select their Senator. I intend to take my case directly to the people of Alabama.”