Trump, Jeff Sessions feud on Twitter

President Donald Trump continued his online feud Saturday with former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who stood up to his old boss after Trump encouraged Alabama voters to reject Sessions in his bid to return to the U.S. Senate.

Trump on Friday afternoon once again tweeted his endorsement for Sessions' rival, college football coach Tommy Tuberville, in the primary contest for the seat Sessions held before joining Trump's Cabinet.

Trump tweeted, "Alabama, do not trust Jeff Sessions."

Sessions responded to the president, saying on Twitter, "Your personal feelings don't dictate who Alabama picks as their senator, the people of Alabama do."

On Saturday, the president shot back, saying Sessions should drop out of the race and then hope U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, D-Alabama, doesn't hold on to the seat.

"You should drop out of the race & pray that super liberal @DougJones, a weak & pathetic puppet for Crazy Nancy Pelosi & Cryin’ Chuck Schumer, gets beaten badly," Trump tweeted, referring to the top two Democrats in Congress.

The president has slow-cooked over Sessions' decision in 2017 to recuse himself from special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian influence in the 2016 election. In November 2018, Trump ousted Sessions as attorney general and replaced him temporarily with Matt Whitaker.

On Saturday, Trump tweeted, "Jeff, you had your chance & you blew it. Recused yourself ON DAY ONE (you never told me of a problem), and ran for the hills."

Sessions responded nearly four hours later, saying on Twitter, "Neither of us knew about the phony investigation into our campaign until after I was sworn in. As you will recall, I recommended firing @Comey from the very beginning."

Sessions served as chairman of the 2016 Trump campaign's national security advisory committee.

In 2017, amid the FBI's investigation of possible ties between Trump's campaign and Russian operatives, Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, but the move did not prevent the launch of Mueller's probe days later.

The president has previously posted support for Tuberville, the former Auburn University football coach, on Twitter, and Sessions responded, tweeting that Trump "can endorse anyone he chooses" but that he'd fought for the president's priorities.

Sessions and Tuberville finished neck and neck in March in a Republican primary, setting up the July 14 runoff contest. The winner of the runoff will face Jones in November.