Alabama Republican Rep. Mo Brooks, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, recently launched a bid for Attorney General Jeff Sessions' former Senate seat.
Now that President Donald Trump has publicly questioned whether Sessions should be running the Department of Justice, Brooks has offered a proposal to the state's Republican Party: Each of the nine declared GOP candidates vying for Sessions' seat should drop out of the race and push to reinstate Sessions:
I cannot remain silent about the treatment Jeff Sessions is receiving from President Trump. If the President has reservations about Attorney General Jeff Sessions, that is okay. No two people agree all the time. But President Trump should raise his reservations with Attorney General Sessions privately, man to man, one on one, not publicly scorn a great man like this.
I support President Trump’s policies, but this public waterboarding of one of the greatest people Alabama has ever produced is inappropriate and insulting to the people of Alabama who know Jeff Sessions so well and elected him so often by overwhelming margins.
With that said, If President Trump wants a new Attorney General, he has that right. That is why today I am making the people of Alabama a “win-win” promise: a “win” for President Trump and a “win” for Jeff Sessions.
I offer to withdraw completely from the race for Senate if my other GOP opponents in this race will concur on the terms and conditions set forth in the accompanying “Resolution Reinstating Jeff Sessions as United States Senator.”
Brooks' resolution would be presented to the Alabama Republican Party. Reappointing Session could take place in one of two ways:
1. Each of the nine Republican candidates drops out of the race, which allows the Alabama GOP to nominate a candidate (Sessions) for the vacant seat in the special election, which was called to order by Gov. Kay Ivey.2. Junior Sen. Luther Strange agrees to resign, at which point Gov. Ivey can reappoint Sessions to his previous seat.
Candidates have until Aug. 8 to sign the resolution. Otherwise, the election will proceed as normal.
It is unclear whether or not Brooks would run against Sessions should the embattled attorney general decide to run and the resolution fails to receive unanimous support.
