Alabama senator: If I were Sessions, I’d quit and stop being Trump’s ‘whipping boy’

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), who for years represented Alabama in the Senate alongside Jeff Sessions, says that if he were in the attorney general’s shoes, he would stop being President Trump’s “whipping boy.” 

“I wouldn’t stay at all unless the president wanted me to stay, if he appointed me,” Shelby said in an interview with Fox Business’s Neil Cavuto.

“I wouldn’t be anybody’s whipping boy. I wouldn’t be belittled because the president’s saying he doesn’t have any confidence in you,” added Shelby.

{mosads}

“So that is Jeff’s challenge right now, and what he wants to do and how he does it. He’s a good man. He’s going through a lot; he’s got a lot of challenges,” he continued. 

Trump ripped Sessions on Twitter on Wednesday, calling him “disgraceful” for asking the inspector general, rather than Justice Department lawyers, to probe alleged surveillance abuses by the FBI.

Why is A.G. Jeff Sessions asking the Inspector General to investigate potentially massive FISA abuse. Will take forever, has no prosecutorial power and already late with reports on Comey etc. Isn’t the I.G. an Obama guy? Why not use Justice Department lawyers? DISGRACEFUL!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 28, 2018

Sessions hit back at the president shortly after, saying he would continue carrying out his responsibilities as attorney general with “integrity and honor.”

“We have initiated the appropriate process that will ensure complaints against this Department will be fully and fairly acted upon if necessary,” Sessions said in a statement.

“As long as I am the Attorney General, I will continue to discharge my duties with integrity and honor, and this Department will continue to do its work in a fair and impartial manner according to the law and Constitution,” he added.

Sessions proved to be a loyal ally to Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign, becoming the first U.S. senator to endorse then-candidate Trump. 

But he fell out of Trump’s favor after recusing himself from the federal investigation into alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russia’s election meddling. That’s led to a series of shocking attacks by Trump on his own attorney general.

On Thursday, reports circulated that Trump has been referring to Sessions as “Mr. Magoo,” a reference to the bumbling cartoon character, an elderly man who lands in comic situations due to near-sightedness.