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Byrne: We’re going to use Trump post-impeachment shoutout in our U.S. Senate campaign — ‘People need to know that’

Last week after the acquittal in his U.S. Senate impeachment trial, President Donald Trump lauded many of his allies during the months-long ordeal, including several members of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Included among those was Alabama’s own U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-Fairhope), who is also running for the U.S. Senate. Byrne is among the front-runners in a contest that also includes former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and former Auburn University head football coach Tommy Tuberville.

During an interview on Huntsville radio WVNN’s “The Jeff Poor Show,” Byrne discussed his recognition from the president and acknowledged he would be using it in his senatorial effort.

“This is a big shot in the arm for the campaign,” Byrne said. “What happened [Thursday] is he wanted to have this celebration — I guess that’s the best way to say it — at the White House for those of us who had sort of been working very hard during this impeachment crisis. He said, yeah, when you go through something like this, it draws you closer. It makes you feel close to one another. He was acknowledging that.”

“So, we had lawyers there that did such a brilliant job on the floor of the Senate,” he continued. “We had a lot of the White House people that had been so involved. And there were about 15 or 20 of us there from Congress, and he called each of us out — not just me. He called each of us out — Mark Meadows, [Jim] Jordan, John Ratcliffe, lots of people who just did a great job. And he called me out because you know, I was so active on the floor and other places on his behalf.”

Campaigns and political watchers are waiting to see what, if any, involvement Trump will have in Alabama’s U.S. Senate election, given the president’s past differences with Sessions. Such a move would not be unprecedented for Trump in Alabama, given his involvement with the 2017 U.S. Senate special election GOP primary and his endorsement of then-U.S. Sen. Luther Strange (R-Mountain Brook).

“I’m grateful to him for doing that,” Byrne added. “He didn’t have to do it. He was very gracious to do it. Yes, we’re going to use that in the campaign because I think people need to know that.”

@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly and host of Huntsville’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 2-5 p.m. on WVNN.

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