Sessions' Senate bid looks all but dead, but Trump will travel to Alabama to put the final nail in the coffin.
Donald Trump is expected to travel to Alabama next month ahead of the July 14 Republican Senate primary runoff to campaign against his former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, CNN's Kaitlan Collins reported.
Sessions is running to reclaim the Senate seat he vacated to join the Trump administration in 2017.
He already faces long odds to return, having come in second in the March 28 Republican primary to former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville.
Tuberville topped Sessions 33.4% to 31.6%. But because Tuberville did not garner at least 50% of the vote, a runoff was triggered with Sessions, who was the second-place finisher in the seven-candidate field.
Trump has endorsed Tuberville in the runoff. And polls show Tuberville with a commanding lead over Sessions, with one survey from early May showing Tuberville leading Sessions 55.1% to 31.8%.
Even though Tuberville is the favorite to win the runoff, Trump is still making the trip to Alabama during the COVID-19 pandemic to campaign against Sessions.
What's more, Collins reported that Trump will hold the rally in the same stadium where Sessions endorsed Trump's presidential bid in February 2016, when he become one of the first members of Congress to back Trump's candidacy.
Trump despises Sessions, who as attorney general recused himself from the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Trump believes Sessions' recusal paved the way for special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, which preoccupied Trump for the first two years of his term.
Sessions has tried to win back Trump's approval, running ads praising his former boss.
"When I left President Trump's Cabinet, did I write a tell-all book? No!" Sessions said in one ad. "Did I go on CNN and attack the president? Nope! Have I said a cross word about our president? Not one time."
But Trump has rejected those overtures, even sending Sessions a letter in April telling him to stop making the "delusional assertion that you are President Trump's #1 supporter."
"3 years ago, after Jeff Sessions recused himself, the Fraudulent Mueller Scam began. Alabama, do not trust Jeff Sessions. He let our Country down. That's why I endorsed Coach Tommy Tuberville (@TTuberville), the true supporter of our #MAGA agenda!" Trump tweeted on May 22.
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.
