Mo Brooks would leave Senate race to reinstate Sessions
BY MAX GREENWOOD - 07/26/17 02:34 PM EDT
Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) is offering to withdraw from Alabama's special Senate election to make way for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to take the Republican nomination for his former seat — if the other GOP contenders vow to do the same.
Brooks's proposition comes as President Trump ratchets up criticism of his attorney general, signaling a potential push by the White House to oust Sessions from the Justice Department.
In his statement, Brooks described Trump's treatment of Sessions as a "public waterboarding."
"If all Republican candidates collectively agree to simultaneously withdraw from this race, then we clear the way for the Republican Party of Alabama to nominate Jeff Sessions to be the Republican nominee for the December 12, 2017 general election," Brooks said in a statement Wednesday.
"He can return to the Senate where he has served us so well. President can then appoint whomever he wants as Attorney General," he added.
The field of Republicans vying for the Senate seat previously held by Sessions and now occupied by Sen. Luther Strange (R-Ala.) is crowded.
But Brooks said that allowing the attorney general to return to the chamber would ultimately give the state more influence in Washington, given Sessions's 20-year tenure in the Senate and his potential to secure key committee assignments.
Attached to Brooks's statement was a "Resolution Reinstating Jeff Sessions as United States Senator," detailing Trump's recent affronts regarding the attorney general and making the case for his return to the Senate. At the bottom of the resolution is space for each of the seat's nine GOP candidates to sign.
Brooks, who is serving his fourth term in the House, is roughly tied with Strange for second place in the special Senate race, according to recent polling.
more:
http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/343940-mo-brooks-says-hell-leave-senate-race-for-sessions-if-everyone-else-does
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