Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions went on the attack Friday in the Alabama Republican Senate primary runoff, as he looks to claw his way back from a surprising second-place finish on Super Tuesday.
The Sessions campaign hit front-runner Tommy Tuberville, the former Auburn University football coach, as a Florida carpetbagger trying to tie himself to Mr. Trump.
“In the first 65 years of his life, Tuberville never lifted a finger in the battle for conservative ideals,” said campaign manager Jon Jones. “He never helped President Trump, he never said a kind word about President Trump, he never even gave a single penny of his millions to help President Trump get elected.
“But now that he wants our vote, he is all about Trump,” Mr. Jones continued in a statement accompanying the release of a new “Florida Man” attack ad. “How convenient. Tommy Tuberville is a Florida phony who is all about himself and he is just using President Trump for his own purposes.”
The president has made no official endorsement in the Alabama runoff to be held March 31, but he chided Mr. Sessions for his lackluster showing Tuesday after leading in the polls. The winner of the runoff will face Democratic Sen. Doug Jones, considered the most vulnerable senator in the November elections.
Mr. Trump was quick this week to remind voters he was not pleased after he appointed Mr. Sessions to his Cabinet as attorney general, only to see Mr. Sessions recuse himself from the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
“This is what happens to someone who loyally gets appointed Attorney General of the United States & then doesn’t have the wisdom or courage to stare down & end the phony Russia Witch Hunt,” the president tweeted. “Recuses himself on FIRST DAY in office and the Mueller Scam begins!”
This is what happens to someone who loyally gets appointed Attorney General of the United States & then doesn’t have the wisdom or courage to stare down & end the phony Russia Witch Hunt. Recuses himself on FIRST DAY in office, and the Mueller Scam begins! https://t.co/2jGnRgOS6h
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2020
Mr. Sessions was the first senator to endorse Mr. Trump during his 2016 campaign.
Mr. Tuberville was quick to capitalize on the president’s tweet this week.
“Mr. President I could not agree more, and in 27 days help will be on the way!” he tweeted in response.
Backing up its charge that Mr. Tuberville is “a tourist” in Alabama, the Sessions campaign linked to Florida property tax records that show Mr. Tuberville and his wife Suzanne paid more than $95,000 since 2016 for a home in Santa Rosa County, an upscale beach area in the state’s Panhandle.
The Tuberville campaign did not respond Friday to a request for comment on the latest attack from the Sessions campaign.
• James Varney can be reached at jvarney@washingtontimes.com.
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