Sessions for attorney general

Drumpf taps Sessions for attorney general, Pompeo for CIA

The president-elect starts building out his administration with loyalists.

By Elana Schor, Kyle Cheney and Alex Isenstadt

President-elect Donald Drumpf is expected to announce later on Friday that he has offered the job of attorney general to Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, while retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn has been offered the post of White House national security adviser, and Rep. Mike Pompeo has been offered CIA director, according to transition official Sean Spicer.

Sessions, one of Drumpf’s earliest and most prominent supporters in Congress, met with Drumpf at his home office in New York on Thursday, another transition team source said.

The job offers mark the most solid signs of progress yet in Drumpf’s transition effort, which had been plagued for days by reports of disorder and infighting. They also help provide the early outlines of who Drumpf will rely on as he takes over governing the country. With the earlier appointments of Reince Priebus as chief of staff and Steve Bannon as chief strategist, Drumpf so far has selected only white men, some of whom have been dogged by controversy for their statements about Muslims and other incendiary rhetoric.

And while Drumpf has maintained a heavy schedule of meetings at Drumpf Tower since his surprise election — including with past foes such as Ted Cruz and Nikki Haley — the president-elect appears to be rewarding loyalty, at least with his first picks.

Sessions, the first senator to endorse Drumpf, is well-regarded by his Republican colleagues, although his breed of hardline conservatism falls outside the GOP mainstream. He is opposed to creating a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and a vocal critic of marijuana legalization, though he worked with the Obama administration and Democrats on legislation supported by civil rights groups that reduced the sentencing disparity for cocaine possession.

His fellow Alabama GOP senator, Richard Shelby, said in a statement on Thursday that Sessions would “bring integrity and immense expertise to the role of Attorney General due to his decades of experience in the legal field and an impressive tenure on” the judiciary committee. Sessions could clear the judiciary panel with only Republican votes before his nomination faces a Senate floor vote, with only a majority required for confirmation.

Cruz was also pleased that his Senate colleague will join Drumpf's cabinet, calling the pick "great news for all of us who revere the Constitution and the rule of law." The Texas firebrand, whose name had also been floated for the job of attorney general, said in a statement that Sessions "has had an extraordinary career in government and law enforcement" and "will be an exceptional United States attorney general.”

Sessions was bandied about for Defense secretary or secretary of Homeland Security, but ultimately his focus in the Senate on illegal immigration — and hard-line views that align with Drumpf’s — led him to be selected to lead the Justice Department.

But Sessions’ confirmation is likely to be a fight, even though he's a senator, and it could turn ugly. His critics are expected to seize on his failed confirmation three decades ago, when the Judiciary Committee rejected his nomination over accusations he had called the NAACP “un-American” and addressed a black lawyer as “boy.”

Sessions was nominated to be a judge on the U.S. District Court in Alabama in 1986, but he was derailed after his former deputy, who was black, said Sessions once admonished him to be careful with what he said around “white folks.”

Sessions denied the accusations.

“I am not the Jeff Sessions my detractors have tried to create,” he said in 1986. “I am not a racist. I am not insensitive to blacks. I have supported civil rights activities in my state. I have done my job with integrity, equality and fairness for all.”

The last senator who failed to clear a confirmation vote among his colleagues was John Tower, nominated as defense secretary by President George H.W. Bush in 1989 but rejected on a 53-47 vote after allegations of alcohol abuse.

Flynn, whose position in Drumpf's administration was first reported on Thursday night, served as one of the billionaire's top confidants during the campaign, and joined him during some of his early intelligence briefings.

Flynn, a registered Democrat, gained a reputation as a skilled but combative intelligence officer during his 33-year career. However, he was forced out as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2014.

The 58-year-old is expected to bring an aggressive posture to foreign policy matters, and is known for his hardline views on Islam and his warm statements about Russia — which he shares with Drumpf.

“Fear of Muslims is RATIONAL,” Flynn tweeted in February, one of several remarks on Islam that Democrats are poised to reinject into confirmation hearings for Sessions, Pompeo, or other national security-related Drumpf nominations.

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) on Friday slammed Flynn’s “incendiary, hateful comments about Muslims” and raised “serious questions about General Flynn’s competence and composure,” citing his lobbying work for an ally of the Turkish president.

“We have learned many lessons since 9/11, one of which is not to provide our enemies with fodder to fuel anti-American hatred,” Hoyer said in a statement.

The job of national security adviser, which does not require Senate confirmation, will give Flynn sweeping power over practically every major defense and foreign policy decisions.

Pompeo, who was first elected to the House in 2010, is seen by his colleagues as sharp, smart and a quiet force in the chamber.

He graduated No. 1 in his class at West Point, and went onto Harvard Law School before working at Williams and Connolly, a top D.C. law firm. He has a background in intelligence and foreign policy, having served in the Army and as a member of the House Intelligence Committee.

He's a sharp critic of the Iran nuclear accord, and gained prominence in the last few years after former Speaker John Boehner tapped him to serve on the House panel that investigated Benghazi. The Kansan founded Thayer Aerospace in Wichita before entering politics.

Pompeo has always had designs on leaving the House. He toyed with challenging Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) in the GOP primary in 2016, but ultimately backed down. Some conservatives quietly urged him to run for speaker.