President Trump lashed out at former Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Twitter Saturday evening, accusing the GOP Alabama Senate candidate of ‘ruining lives’ when he decided to recuse himself from the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Russia probe.
The tweet from Trump slamming Sessions is the latest installment in a back-and-forth between the two over Memorial Day Weekend.
“Jeff, you had your chance & you blew it. Recused yourself ON DAY ONE (you never told me of a problem), and ran for the hills. You had no courage, & ruined many lives,” Trump shared, retweeting Sessions’s earlier rebuke.
“The dirty cops, & others, got caught by better & stronger people than you. Hopefully this slime will pay a big price. You should drop out of the race & pray that super liberal @DougJones, a weak & pathetic puppet for Crazy Nancy Pelosi & Cryin’ Chuck Schumer, gets beaten badly. He voted for impeachment based on “ZERO”. Disgraced Alabama. Coach @TTuberville will be a GREAT Senator!” Trump continued.
Sessions represented Alabama in the Senate for 20 years before becoming attorney general for the Trump administration early on in the president’s first term. He is running for the GOP nomination to challenge Democratic Sen. Doug Jones (Ala.), whose seat GOP officials view as a prime opportunity to flip.
Trump has endorsed former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville in the GOP primary race.
Trump tweeted Friday attacking Sessions’s decision to recuse himself from the investigation, which Trump and other GOP allies have said led to the appointment of former special counsel Robert Muller. Trump has repeatedly leveled these attacks against Sessions.
Sessions has defended his recusal, saying that his work with the Trump campaign made certain that he remove himself from the department’s investigation into the 2016 election.
However, he has also rarely rebuked the president and his agenda, noting that he was the first senator to endorse Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
Sessions retweeted Trump’s message Friday, sharing, “@realdonaldtrump Look, I know your anger, but recusal was required by law. I did my duty & you’re damn fortunate I did. It protected the rule of law & resulted in your exoneration. Your personal feelings don’t dictate who Alabama picks as their senator, the people of Alabama do.”
“Tuberville’s a coward who is rightly too afraid to debate me. 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,” Sessions continued.
Sessions also tweeted Saturday morning “.@realDonaldTrump: Mr. President, Alabama can and does trust me, as do conservatives across the country. Perhaps you’ve forgotten. They trusted me when I stepped out and put that trust on the line for you.”