Jeff Sessions Wants To Return To The Senate, GOP Sources Say
By Debbie Elliott
Jeff Sessions wants his old job back – not his job as U.S. Attorney General, but as Alabama senator. GOP sources tell NPR that Sessions is going to soon announce his campaign for the Alabama Senate seat that he held for 20 years. The person currently in that seat is Democrat Doug Jones, who is considered to be the most vulnerable member of the U.S. Senate.
Sessions was the first senator to get behind President Donald Trump’s campaign, long before Trump’s plan to build the wall. He was a border hawk and had Trump’s ear on immigration policy.
But Sessions’ comeback bid is complicated by his soured relationship with Trump. Sessions stepped down as attorney general after being repeatedly mocked by Trump, angered that Sessions recused himself from special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
The question is how voters will respond now that Sessions is out of favor with the president. Trump has his highest approval rating in the country in Alabama.
Other GOP candidates, including Congressman Bradley Byrne, and former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville, promised to stand with the president. Tuberville tweeted that Sessions failed the president at his greatest point of need. The qualifying deadline is Friday.
Jeff Sessions entrance into this race is not a surprise. He’s been out of the swamp for less than two years, and now he’s itching to go back. He’s another career politician that the voters of Alabama will reject. As AG, he failed the President at his point of greatest need.
— Tommy Tuberville (@TTuberville) November 6, 2019
Copyright © 2019 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
Alabama executes Geoffrey Todd West for the murder of Margaret Parrish Berry
The execution took place despite Berry's son's opposition to it and was marked by less movement than other nitrogen gas executions.
Ex-FBI Director James Comey indicted on criminal charges stemming from 2020 testimony
Comey faces one count of making false statements and one count of obstruction of justice in connection.
Hollywood now has dueling open letters over the Israel film boycott
Over 1,200 Hollywood figures, among them Liev Schreiber, Mayim Bialik and Sharon Osbourne, signed a letter on Thursday rejecting a previous call to boycott Israeli film groups.
Trump advances TikTok deal with new executive order
The new order says that the deal to turn over a majority stake in TikTok to a group of U.S. investors meets the terms ordered by Congress, and will allow it to stay online in the U.S.
Former FBI Director Comey indicted on criminal charges stemming from 2020 testimony
Former FBI Director James Comey faces one count of making false statements and one count of obstruction of justice in connection.
The U.N. utters the word: Dementia
For the first time, the United Nations has issued a political declaration pledging to address dementia. Will it make a difference?