Trump appears with Sessions' Senate rival at Alabama football game
President Trump and first lady Melania Trump at the LSU Tigers-Alabama Crimson Tide game at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Saturday. Photo: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
President Trump was cheered by the crowd Saturday as he attended a collegiate football game in Alabama alongside Rep. Bradley Byrne, who's running against former Attorney General Jeff Sessions in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate seat.
Details: Trump was recently booed by sports fans during two previous high-profile events and CBS reports a Baby Trump protest balloon was "knifed and deflated" at Saturday's U Tigers-Alabama Crimson Tide clash, which LSU won 46-41. But he received a warm reception from fans at the game, per video posted online by users including Byrne.
Why it matters: Trump won Alabama in the 2016 election, but Democratic Sen. Doug Jones took Sessions' old Senate seat in the deep-red state in 2018 against the disgraced Roy Moore, who's also announced he plans to run.
- It's unclear at this stage which candidate Trump will endorse from a crowded Republican field, but Byrne's presence with the president at the game "raises questions about Trump and his highly sought after endorsement for the vulnerable Senate seat," the Hill notes.
The big picture: Sessions resigned in November last year at the request of Trump, who blamed him for then-special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.
- The president told reporters Friday he hadn't "made a determination" on which Republican candidate to endorse, but he said he wouldn't campaign against Sessions in his Senate bid, per Politico.
Go deeper: Jeff Sessions' Alabama Senate run triggers GOP schism