Sessions torn between Trump, Cruz

The Alabama senator and lead immigration reform battler is debating himself over a presidential endorsement.

By Burgess Everett
01/29/16 05:33 AM EST

Seeking to defend his hardline immigration record during Thursday night's debate, Ted Cruz name-dropped Sen. Jeff Sessions five times in a matter of minutes.

But Sessions, who's got more conservative street cred than just about any member of Congress, can't make up his mind whether to back Cruz for president or his other pal in the race, Donald Trump. He likes both of them too much to commit.

“I don’t have any plans. I have no agenda to make any announcement any time soon. I don’t know if I can help or might hurt a candidate,” the Alabama Republican told POLITICO in an interview Thursday. “But fundamentally I think Trump and Cruz are at the top of the heap.”

After Sessions' communications director left his job this week to join Trump's campaign, several media outlets suggested the senator would follow along into the business mogul's fold. On Thursday, Sessions didn't rule out eventually giving one of the candidates his blessing, but not yet.

His indecision comes as one influential conservative after another has come down for Cruz or Trump ahead of Monday's Iowa caucuses. In the past few days, Family Research Council head Tony Perkins and radio host Dana Loesch went for Cruz, and Jerry Falwell Jr. and Sarah Plain threw in for Trump .

Sessions first made waves in the GOP primary last summer when he donned a “Make America Great Again” hat at a Trump rally, when the New Yorker's candidacy was still widely seen as a stunt. At the same time, Sessions has vigorously defended Cruz as his co-conspirator against the Senate’s 2013 immigration bill, and Cruz has responded by invoking Sessions whenever he gets the chance.

There are other senators whose endorsement would be valuable. Sen. Mike Lee of Utah is a rising conservative but seems unlikely to endorse until the field further narrows. And Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina is planning to weigh in before his important, home state primary.

But Sessions seems to have a special relationship with the right. During Thursday's debate, Cruz repeated Sessions' name when Florida Sen. Marco Rubio confronted him over alleged support for liberal immigration policies in 2013.

"I'll tell you who supported my amendment: Jeff Sessions, the strongest opponent of amnesty in the United States Congress. And he did so because taking citizenship off the table was important, and it revealed the hypocrisy of the proponents of this bill, who were looking for votes," Cruz said.

He mentioned Sessions several more times. Shortly after, Rubio campaign put out a statement documenting the times Sessions and Cruz had disagreed. "Ted Cruz v. Jeff Sessions on Immigration," read the title.

Indeed, anti-immigration activists love Sessions' staunch stands against liberalizing immigration laws.

“Sessions’ endorsement would carry a lot of weight. I just can’t imagine he would endorse anyone yet. Why would you?” said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank that calls for stricter immigration policies.

“If for instance, he endorsed Cruz, what would Trump do?" Krikorian added. "Sessions has more credibility with Trump’s voters than Trump does.”

Just this week, Breitbart, the conservative media outlet, published a story dubbing Sessions the “intellectual leader of the modern conservative movement” that drew more than 8,000 comments. It was just one of many this month to light up the website, which has written positively about Trump.

The decision by Miller, the Sessions aide, to leave for Trump's campaign did not “come lightly, the senator said. But Sessions isn't ready to follow him with an endorsement. He's been debating with himself over who is the superior candidate for his message that blue-collar workers are taking it on the chin.

“Trump has a way of clarifying a message that penetrates ... and so two of the issues that are giving him support are trade and immigration,” Sessions said. “But there are other issues out there. How aggressive should we be in foreign policy? Trump is more modest. A lot of people are anxious about overdoing these foreign entanglements.”

Sessions then turned to Cruz, whose style, diction and preparation are a complete contrast to the off-the-cuff Trump.

Cruz is “so articulate on things like the legal system or taxes or budget, and ... he’s also strong on immigration and he voted against the trade agreement,” Sessions said.

Catherine Frazier, a spokeswoman for Cruz, said that the campaign is "very grateful" for what Sessions has done "to speak the truth about Cruz's record... when others have tried to misconstrue it."

Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/0...#ixzz3ygtcHWSB