Trump names Jeff Sessions attorney general
Senator Jeff Sessions.
Updated: President-elect Donald Trump announced Friday that he has chosen U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions as attorney general.
NPR reports that Trump also announced Michael Flynn for national security adviser and U.S. Rep. Mike Pompeo for CIA director.
Sources had earlier told the New York Times, the Washington Post, Bloomberg News and the Associated Press that Trump had chosen Sessions, a Republican senator from Alabama.
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, was also a finalist for attorney general. A Trump aide reportedly called Cruz Thursday evening to let him know that Sessions was getting the job, according to Bloomberg News.
Sessions had supported Trump early in his quest to become president, and became an adviser to Trump. He is one of Trump’s “closest and most consistent allies,” according to AP. The wire service describes him as “an architect of Trump’s immigration, counterterrorism and trade policies.” His Senate biography is here.
Sessions has opposed sentencing reform and legalization of marijuana, according to Bloomberg. He did, however, support a compromise with Democrats to reduce the disparities in sentencing for crack and cocaine.
Sessions previously called for a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton, according to Bloomberg.
Bloomberg also reports that Sessions “has been hostile to gay rights, voting for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage in 2006 and against the 2010 repeal of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ the policy that banned gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military.”
Sessions served as a U.S. attorney in Alabama beginning in 1981 and was elected Alabama attorney general in 1995. President Reagan nominated Sessions for a federal judgeship in 1986, but the Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee did not forward his nomination because of “racially charged comments and actions,” according to the New York Times. Sessions withdrew his name.
Former colleagues had told the Judiciary Committee that Sessions referred to the NAACP and other civil rights groups as “un-American” and “Communist-inspired.” A former assistant U.S. attorney who is black said Sessions had referred to him as a “boy” and warned him to be careful of what he said to “white folks,” according to AP.
Sessions was also said to have criticized the Voting Rights Act and to have disliked the restrictions it placed on Southern states. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1996 and now serves on the Judiciary Committee.
Updated at 11:26 a.m. to note the announcement.
