Alabama, where Jeff Sessions made his name, has long been a reliable base of support. But as the president escalated his attacks on his attorney general in recent days, the state's top GOP lawmakers have gone dark. | Andrew Harnik/AP Photo Congress Once-loyal Alabama delegation gives Sessions the cold shoulder The attorney general could once count on his fellow Alabamians to publicly defend him. That seems no longer the case.

When President Donald Trump attacked Attorney General Jeff Sessions last year, Alabama Republicans jumped to his defense, beating back the presidential incursion and sending Trump a clear signal: back off our guy.

Now, as Trump reprises his public assault on the man he blames for his mounting legal woes, Sessions is getting the silent treatment from his hometown allies.


Alabama, the beating heart of conservative Southern politics where Sessions made his name as a prosecutor and a senator for 35 years, has long been a reliable base of support. But as Trump escalated his attacks on Sessions in recent days — and signaled his desire for a new attorney general — Alabama’s leading Republican lawmakers have gone dark.

In recent days, Trump has called his attorney general “missing in action” and “scared stiff” for his stewardship of the Justice Department. He said in a Fox News interview that Sessions failed to take control of the Justice Department when he took the top job. Sessions responded with a rare statement implicitly rebuking the attack: “I took control of the Department of Justice the day I was sworn in.” And he said the agency “will not be improperly influenced by political considerations.”

Amid this latest confrontation, not one member of the House delegation from Alabama has tweeted a word of support for Sessions except Rep. Gary Palmer, who responded only to what he claimed was negative media attention and publicly defended the attorney general. POLITICO reached out to all six GOP House members from the state and only Palmer responded before publication.

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The silence from Alabama is just the latest notable shift in Sessions’ fortunes. Trump has grown increasingly furious at Sessions for what he views was his original sin: recusing himself from any role in the FBI’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Sessions stepped aside in February 2017, handing over the probe to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Rosenstein made the fateful decision to appoint special counsel Robert Mueller in May 2017, after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey.

Mueller has continued the FBI probe of contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia, as well as an inquiry into whether Trump has attempted to obstruct the probe.

But when Trump’s fury has flared in the past, Sessions was able to rely on steadfast support from his Alabama brethren, as well as powerful Republican members of the Senate, like South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham. Graham, though, signaled in recent days that it may be time for Trump to have an attorney general he has confidence in — and several top Republicans have suggested Trump might look to make that switch after the November elections.

Sessions allies say he’s weathered this storm before and that Trump’s anger has rarely translated into action. Sessions got notable bursts of support from top GOP senators like Majority Whip John Cornyn, who said “it would be bad for the country, would be bad for the president, would be bad for the Department of Justice” if Trump fired Sessions. GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Mike Rounds of South Dakota also warned Trump against ousting Sessions in the near term.

A source familiar with the ongoing dispute said the absence of a more aggressive public effort to back Sessions shouldn’t be read as an erosion of support. Rather, those who once made public declarations had now simply resorted to private calls, choosing not to elevate an intraparty dispute in the waning weeks of the campaign. Those calls came from senators, conservative leaders and law enforcement groups, the source said.

In fact, speculation that Sessions might resign amid the Trump browbeating grew so sharply last week that Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) called into the White House while Sessions was in the Oval Office for a meeting on prison reform. According to a source briefed on the meeting, a note was brought into the Oval Office conveying an urgent message from Hatch to Sessions urging him not to resign.





Asked about the episode, a Hatch spokesman simply said, “Senator Hatch called the attorney General last week to offer encouragement.”

The public silence from Alabama Republicans, though, is most glaring — it's a far cry from July 2017, when, after Trump's first blistering attack on Sessions, the state’s GOP leaders and lawmakers flocked to defend him.

“No one is better suited to run the Department of Justice than Jeff Sessions. He has my — and the people of Alabama’s — strong support,” Rep. Bradley Byrne tweeted at the time.

“This country needs Jeff Sessions as Attorney General,” added Rep. Martha Roby.

After this story was published, Roby's office emailed a statement saying, “I have always known Jeff Sessions to be a man of the highest integrity and character. For many years, I have been grateful to call him a mentor and a friend, and I deeply appreciate his service to our country as Attorney General.”

The change in tone stems, some Alabama GOP insiders say, from Trump’s increasing stranglehold on Republican voters. Trump has emerged as the undisputed compass of the Republican Party base, single-handedly deciding fortunes in many Southern primaries. Whereas Sessions was once a fixture in Alabama GOP candidates’ ads — his endorsement a coveted sign that the conservative base could get on board — a Trump endorsement is now the ultimate boost.

“If I’m looking at it from the political side of it, I’m going to be with Trump,” said David Mowery, a veteran Alabama political consultant. “I don’t know what being Sessions’ bulwark gets you. But I do know what making Trump mad gets you.”

Trump most recently demonstrated his singular hold on GOP voters when he helped Roby survive a June primary challenge with a late endorsement. Roby was seen as vulnerable, in part because she had abandoned Trump during the 2016 election following the public release of his “Access Hollywood” comments about groping women.

“Martha Roby basically won her primary because Trump tweeted out that he forgave her,” Mowery added.

But she has since signaled her fealty to Trump, earning his backing and fending off an early end to her political career. That example, Alabama GOP insiders said, is why Trump may have more juice than Sessions in the state today.

“It seems that Alabama Republican primary voters have decided to go with Trump over the Sessions,” said one former Alabama state party leader.

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) has gone from blasting the notion of firing Sessions to acknowledging conflict within the administration.

“He’s an honest man and that’s very important in that job, but there’s some challenges down there as you know,” Shelby told reporters last week.

Last spring, Alabama Republican Rep. Gary Palmer defended Sessions and blasted his own conservative House colleagues for calling on Sessions to resign. Palmer, who’s known Sessions for nearly 25 years, said calls for Sessions’ resignation were mostly politics.

But asked last Thursday about Trump’s latest jab at his old friend, Palmer said he had his own problems with Sessions’ reign at Justice: “There are things, frankly, I can’t understand why they’re being done the way they’re being done. There are people that are still there that, frankly, [I] don’t understand why they’re still there. So I do have some questions.”

Palmer later added: Sessions has “always been a person of high integrity and character. I believe in giving people the benefit of the doubt. I also believe in there are questions that need addressing.”

Asked if he’d be OK with Trump firing Sessions, Palmer was nonchalant.

“It’s not unusual for people to leave an administration midterm and go on to other things,” he said.

State party officials, too, have gone silent on Sessions. State GOP Chairman Terry Lathan, who proactively defended Sessions during Trump's 2017 attacks, has kept silent this time. But after this story was published, she said she didn't initially respond to inquiries because had been tied up with Republican party events and added that Sessions is "highly respected."

“Alabama is in a unique situation as President Trump consistently has the highest state approval ratings with us and home state Attorney General Sessions has always been highly respected by Alabamians," Lathan said. "He has carried out President Trump's strong law and order agenda from day one. While there seems to be a difference of opinion between them on recusal, they have the same focused policy agenda."

It wasn’t always this way. When Trump tapped Sessions — one of the first lawmakers to endorse him for president — Alabamans went wild. Some thought it meant more Alabamans in top positions at Justice; others that the state would secure more grant money. Still others were psyched for policy reasons. Sessions, after all, had always been one of the most conservative members of the Senate, and he'd championed some of the harshest crackdowns on illegal immigration and sanctuary cities.

Sessions' support remained steady throughout 2017; some Alabama Republicans even sought to draft him to save his former Senate seat when GOP nominee Roy Moore was credibly accused of child molestation.

“No one bashed him yet,” said one Alabama Republican who asked not to be named. “It’s just not standing up to defend him.”

In the House, GOP criticism of Sessions centers around his continued support of Rosenstein. Rosenstein has become a whipping boy for House conservatives who argue he's allowed Mueller to lead an unaccountable and free-wheeling investigation intent on incriminating Trump. Some House conservatives, in fact, have called to impeach Rosenstein for what they say is slow-walking the production of documents related to their own investigation of the Russia controversy.

Palmer, who sits on the House Oversight Committee, brought up Rosenstein’s slow response to document requests when asked what he wanted to change at the Justice Department.

“I do think there are people at the Justice Department who the Attorney General is not being well served by," Palmer said.

