Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday praised Attorney General Jeff Sessions, seeming to break with President Donald Trump in the process.

“I hold Jeff Sessions in the highest regard. I appreciate his service to the nation,” Pence said, per White House reporter Kaitlan Collins.

This echoes comments made Tuesday by Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby, who Sessions served with in the Senate.

“I think Sessions is a very smart man and a man of integrity,” Shelby said.

Trump has repeatedly criticized Sessions in public and private comments recently, but did deny calling Sessions “mentally retarded” and a “dumb Southerner” who could not “even be a one-person country lawyer down in Alabama.”

The president also told Bloomberg in an interview last week that Sessions’ job is safe only through the midterm elections.

Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn