U.S. President Donald Trump listens as military leaders U.S. Defense Secretary Mark?Esper announce U.S. military moves against Venezuela during the daily coronavirus response briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 1, 2020. REUTERS/Tom Brenner
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign told Senate Republican candidate Jeff Sessions on Thursday to stop promoting himself as a Trump ally, lashing out at the former U.S. attorney general, whom the president soured on.
“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 run-off election. Nothing could be further from the truth,” Trump re-election campaign chief operating officer Michael Glassner said in a letter to Sessions, a U.S. senator from Alabama before he became attorney general.
Sessions was an early and loyal supporter of Trump but drew his fury when he recused himself from an investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 White House campaign. Trump forced him from his job as U.S. attorney general in November 2018.
Sessions has been trying to return to the U.S. Senate. He and former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville finished neck and neck in early March in a Republican primary race and are to face off in a runoff election.
Trump has already endorsed Tuberville and has made clear he wants nothing further to do with Sessions.
The Trump campaign took issue with a direct mail item in which Sessions states his support for Trump.
“The letter even makes the delusional assertion that you are President “Trump’s #1 Supporter,” said Glassner.
“President Trump and his campaign do not support your efforts to return to the U.S. Senate. We demand that you and your campaign immediately stop circulating mailers – or any other similar communication – that wrongly suggest otherwise,” he said.
Reporting By Steve Holland; Editing by Steve Orlofsky