Wednesday, Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL), a GOP hopeful competing in his party’s primary for an Alabama U.S. Senate seat on August 15, offered to withdraw his candidacy if Attorney General Jeff Sessions were to step down as attorney general and want to return to the U.S. Senate.
Sen. Luther Strange (R-AL) currently holds the Senate seat up for grabs and he is also a candidate in that primary. Brooks’ offer is contingent on the other front-runners, Strange and former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, also withdrawing from the contest.
“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 said in a statement released Wednesday afternoon. “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. He can return to the Senate where he has served us so well. President can then appoint whomever he wants as Attorney General.”
Prior to assuming the office attorney general on February 9, Sessions had served as Alabama’s junior U.S. Senator since 1997.
Brooks’ statement comes as Sessions has been the focus of public attacks by President Donald Trump, including tweets and in an interview he conducted with The Wall Street Journal that appeared in Tuesday’s edition.
“I’m very disappointed in Jeff Sessions,” Trump said.
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