President Trump’s reelection campaign demanded former Attorney General Jeff Sessions stop trying to link himself to the president in his attempt to win back his old Senate seat in Alabama, the New York Times reported Thursday.
The Trump campaign this week sent a letter to the Sessions camp after it distributed a campaign mailer referencing the president roughly two dozen times, the paper reported.
Michael Glassner, the Trump campaign’s chief operating officer, accused the Sessions team of trying to “confuse” Alabama voters into thinking the president supports him, according to the Times, which viewed a copy of the letter.
“Nothing could be further from the truth,” Mr. Glassner wrote. “President Trump and his campaign do not support your efforts to return to the U.S. Senate.”
Mr. Glassner said Mr. Sessions’s claim that he is the president’s top supporter was “delusional.”
The president has endorsed former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville in his race against Mr. Sessions. The two Alabama Senate candidates are battling it out in a runoff primary election scheduled for July 14.
The winner of the runoff will challenge incumbent Sen. Doug Jones, a Democrat, in the general election in November.
Gail Gitcho, a spokeswoman for Mr. Sessions’ campaign told the Times that the mailer was printed before Mr. Trump endorsed Mr. Tuberville. She also said that Mr. Sessions “is indeed one of the strongest supporters of President Trump and his agenda,” adding “no one can change that.”
Mr. Sessions was ousted as attorney general in November 2018 after nearly a year of public attacks on him by the president. Mr. Trump has blamed Mr. Sessions’ recusal from the Russia investigation for the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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