President Trump Donald John TrumpFederal prosecutor speaks out, says Barr 'has brought shame' on Justice Dept. Former Pence aide: White House staffers discussed Trump refusing to leave office Progressive group buys domain name of Trump's No. 1 Supreme Court pick MORE on Friday was noncommittal about endorsing his former attorney general, Jeff Sessions Jefferson (Jeff) Beauregard SessionsRoy Moore sues Alabama over COVID-19 restrictions GOP set to release controversial Biden report Trump's policies on refugees are as simple as ABCs MORE, in his bid to retake his old Senate seat in Alabama.

“Well I haven’t gotten involved. I saw he said very nice things about me last night. But we’ll have to see," Trump told reporters before departing the White House for events in Georgia.

“I haven’t made a determination," he added, noting that Sessions has "tough competition" in the Alabama Senate race.

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Sessions on Thursday night officially entered the GOP primary field in a bid to take on Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.). The Alabama Republican held that seat from 1997 until 2017, when Trump tapped him to serve as his first attorney general.

But Sessions endured a rocky tenure in Trump's Cabinet starting weeks after he formally joined the administration when he recused himself from overseeing the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Trump in subsequent months repeatedly excoriated Sessions on Twitter and in interviews over the decision, and reportedly mocked his attorney general in private.

But in Thursday's campaign launch, Sessions appealed directly to Trump by praising his accomplishments and noting that he has not spoken out against the president since his ouster.

Sessions resigned at Trump's request the day after the 2018 midterm elections.

He joins an already crowded primary field of Senate GOP candidates in Alabama that includes Rep. Bradley Byrne Bradley Roberts ByrneBottom line Jerry Carl wins GOP Alabama runoff to replace Rep. Bradley Byrne Jeff Sessions loses comeback bid in Alabama runoff MORE (R-Ala.) and former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville.

Sessions told Fox News on Thursday that he had not yet spoken directly to Trump about the Senate bid.

The White House has remained publicly neutral about Sessions's comeback bid, despite Trump's known animus toward him.

Vice President Pence and White House counselor Kellyanne Conway Kellyanne Elizabeth ConwaySpecial counsel investigating DeVos for potential Hatch Act violation: report George and Kellyanne Conway honor Ginsburg Trump carries on with rally, unaware of Ginsburg's death MORE were both asked Thursday about Sessions and gave similar answers that steered clear of any endorsement.

"We’ll let the people of Alabama make that decision," Pence said.