Monday, former Auburn head football Coach Tommy Tuberville’s campaign used the third anniversary of the Robert Mueller appointment in the Russia collusion investigation to began airing a television ad that features President Donald Trump’s pointed criticisms of Jeff Sessions as attorney general. Mueller was not appointed by Sessions; but rather by his Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, a Trump appointee, after Sessions’ decision to recuse himself from the investigation after it was discovered that Sessions had had two meetings with the Russian ambassador during the 2016 campaign for President/
“Jeff Sessions’ decision to recuse gave birth to Robert Mueller’s appointment, so this third anniversary week was a perfect time to air this commercial,” Tuberville campaign manager Paul Shashy said. “And because Jeff Sessions failed Donald Trump when he chose to turn tail and run as attorney general, our ad uses the president’s own words to tell the story.”
The 30-second Tuberville commercial is airing on televisions channels across the state as well as on social media.
The campaign highlights an interview in which President Donald J Trump (R) told NBC’s Chuck Todd that if he could have one do-over as president he “Would not have appointed Jeff Sessions to be attorney general.”
Tuberville said, “Jeff Sessions quit on the president, and he failed Alabama. I’ll always have President Trump’s back.”
Sessions defends his record and his decision to recuse himself in the Russian collusion investigation.
“I have remained faithful to the President and his agenda,” Session wrote. “I have always stood up for him, and I never backed down, not even for one moment. My convictions are immovable, built on rock, not sand. As the world knows, the President disagreed with me on recusal, but I did what the law required me to do. I was a central figure in the campaign and was also a subject of and witness in the investigation and could obviously not legally be involved in investigating myself. If I had ignored and broken the law, the Democrats would have used that to severely damage the President.”
“Throughout this campaign, Sessions has claimed that nameless, faceless Justice Department bureaucrats demanded that recuse himself from the investigation, and he had no other choice than stepping down,” Tuberville responded. “So, without even a courtesy call to the man who appointed him, Sessions abandoned his president and fed him to the wolves, and he almost bought down the entire Trump presidency in the process.”
Sessions said that he offered Trump his resignation when he recused himself; but the President refused it.
“The investigation was a disruptive and prolonged fiasco for America and especially for President Trump, and a massive waste of money chasing the deep-state myth of Russian collusion,” Sessions wrote. “Recently disclosed documents also reveal the extent of former FBI Director James Comey’s underhanded efforts to undermine our President. One thing you may not know is that I advised from the beginning of the administration that Comey should be removed and the FBI given a fresh start. I concluded that Comey was driven by ego, lacked self-discipline, and lacked the judgement necessary to lead an agency as critical as the FBI, as was evidenced by the completely improper way he declined to prosecute Hillary Clinton. The end result of the Mueller investigation is that the President (and I) were fully exonerated, so much so that the subsequent Ukraine impeachment witch hunt did not even mention the phony Russian collusion idea.”
“On-going revelations about inappropriate actions by entrenched liberals at the Justice Department and the FBI indicate that many of those who advised Sessions were likely working against President Trump and pushing for him to fail from the first day he took office,” Tuberville wrote. “He could have remained loyal to the president, watched his back against the Democrats’ fake news sneak attacks, and helped him fulfill the promise of making American great again.”
“I believe President Trump is a great President who is steadily making progress for America, despite relentless opposition,” Sessions wrote. “My support for his agenda is not about me, or even about him. It’s about doing the right thing for the country I so love. I have given my entire life to the support of our conservative ideals and to stopping the radical left from their attempts to redefine, and thereby destroy, America. I always have, I always will.”
“President Donald Trump knows that he can depend upon Tommy Tuberville to remain loyal to him come Hell or high water, and that is why my campaign proudly carries his full endorsement and support,” Tuberville wrote.
The two will face off in the Republican party primary runoff on July 14. The winner will face incumbent Senator Doug Jones (D-Alabama) in November.
