Trump flatly denies calling Jeff Sessions a 'dumb Southerner'

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In Bob Woodward's explosive new White House chronicle, Fear, he writes that President Trump called Attorney General Jeff Sessions a "traitor" for recusing himself in the Russia investigation, adding: "This guy is mentally retarded. He's this dumb Southerner. ... He couldn't even be a one-person country lawyer down in Alabama." Trump issued a broad denial on Tuesday evening, clarifying that "being a Southerner is a GREAT thing."

Trump has complained about Sessions' accent and lack of Ivy League education to aides and senators, Politico reported recently, he's made no secret of his displeasure with Sessions, and Trump has called people "retarded" several times, including on the radio, Toronto Star reporter Daniel Dale documents. In any case, senators from Southern states found the anecdote credible enough that they criticized Trump for making the comment.

"I'm a Southerner, people can judge my intellect, my IQ, by my product and what I produce rather than what somebody else says," Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) told The Washington Post. "We're a pretty smart bunch. We lost the Civil War, but I think we're winning the economic war since then." Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) told the Post he thinks "the president's probably got a lot of respect for the South, I hope so. He did well there. Without the South he wouldn't be the president of the United States." Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) called Sessions a "smart Southerner" and said Trump's reported comments are "not at all appropriate. It's totally inappropriate."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.