Trump taps Sessions for attorney general, Pompeo for CIA The president-elect starts building out his administration with loyalists.

President-elect Donald Trump further filled out his incoming administration on Friday, announcing a series of controversial appointments, including his first cabinet-level position.

Trump's transition team announced Friday that the real estate mogul has offered the job of attorney general to Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), an early and prominent Trump supporter whose hardline stances and history of racial controversy could provide headaches during the confirmation process. The team also rolled out retired Lt. Gen Michael Flynn, who has made disparaging comments about Islam, as Trump's pick for White House national security adviser.


“It is an honor to nominate U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions to serve as Attorney General of the United States,” Trump said in a statement announcing the picks. “Jeff has been a highly respected member of the U.S. Senate for 20 years. He is a world-class legal mind and considered a truly great Attorney General and U.S. Attorney in the state of Alabama. Jeff is greatly admired by legal scholars and virtually everyone who knows him.”

Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.), a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, has been offered the position of CIA director. Trump said the Kansas congressman "will be a brilliant and unrelenting leader for our intelligence community to ensure the safety of Americans and our allies.” Pompeo said he looks forward "to working with America’s intelligence warriors, who do so much to protect Americans each and every day."

Sessions said he was "humbled" by the job offer and called his previous time spent working in the Justice Department "extremely fulfilling."

"I can think of no greater honor than to lead them. With the support of my Senate colleagues, I will give all my strength to advance the Department's highest ideals," the Alabama senator said. "I enthusiastically embrace President-elect Trump's vision for ‘one America,’ and his commitment to equal justice under law. I look forward to fulfilling my duties with an unwavering dedication to fairness and impartiality."

The job offers mark the most solid signs of progress yet in Trump’s transition effort, which had been plagued for days by reports of disorder and infighting. They also help provide the early outlines of who Trump 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, Trump so far has selected only white men, some of whom have been dogged by their past incendiary rhetoric.

And while Trump has maintained a heavy schedule of meetings at Trump 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 Trump, 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.

Like Shelby, Cruz was also pleased that his Senate colleague will join Trump'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' name 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 Trump’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.”

Asked on a conference call about Sessions' nomination to the federal bench in 1986 that was derailed by accusations of racism, spokesman Jason Miller defended the Alabama senator as "someone who is universally respected across party lines" in the Senate. He also pointed to examples from Sessions' record that indicate support for civil rights, citing his votes to confirm former Attorney General Eric Holder and extend the Civil Rights Act and his push to recognize Rosa Parks with the Congressional Gold Medal.

"We feel very confident that Sen. Sessions has the background and the support to receive confirmation," Miller said.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), set to become the ranking minority member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, indicated in a statement Friday that she intends to vet Sessions skeptically. She noted that the attorney general "must discharge his or her duties regardless of personal views," listing civil rights violations, voting protections, the prosecution of hate crimes, protecting women's health clinics, determining acceptable interrogation techniques, overseeing immigration judges and upholding the constitutional right to marriage equality as issues that fall under the purview of the attorney general. All are issues on which she and many other Democrats are likely to be out of step with Sessions.

“Senator Sessions has served on the Senate Judiciary Committee for many years so he’s well aware of the thorough vetting he’s about to receive," the California senator said. "And while many of us have worked with Senator Sessions closely and know him to be a staunch advocate for his beliefs, the process will remain the same: a fair and complete review of the nominee. While Senator Sessions and I differ on a great many issues, I am committed to a full and fair process.”

Since the Justice Department defends virtually all federal government agencies in court, as attorney general Sessions would have a hand in preserving the full range of policies the Trump administration seeks to implement on issues ranging from immigration to the environment to dismantling Obamacare.

In recent years, Sessions has emerged as one of the Senate’s most strident and vocal critics of the Obama administration’s immigration policies. He has repeatedly accused the administration of releasing dangerous illegal immigrants in the U.S. and diluting the job prospects of American workers by flooding the labor markets with immigrants.

Sessions’ nomination is another significant blow to criminal justice reform efforts, whose future already seemed in doubt due to Trump’s law-and-order campaign themes.

Plans to overhaul tough-on-crime policies from the 1980s and 1990s have enjoyed support from both political parties recently on Capitol Hill, but Sessions has been a vocal opponent of calls to reduce sentences for drug offenders. When the Judiciary Committee approved broad criminal justice reform legislation last year, Sessions was one of five GOP senators to vote against it.

Despite the opposition he is likely to face from Democrats, Senate Republicans seem ready to defer to Trump's cabinet picks. The office of Sen. Jeff Flake, who never publicly backed Trump and could be a swing vote on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the Arizona Republican will support Sessions, and Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley said he's confident that his Alabama colleague "would be reported favorably out of the committee."

Still, Democrats are likely to mount an effort to block Sessions on the Senate floor and would need to peel away four Republican votes to successfully do so. 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.

In an early signal of how groups on the left are viewing Trump's choices, the American Civil Liberties Union released a statement attacking Sessions for calling "the ACLU un-American and communist, assertions we flatly reject. His positions on LGBT rights, capital punishment, abortion rights, and presidential authority in times of war have been contested by the ACLU and other civil rights organizations."

"In his confirmation hearings, senators, the media, and the American public should closely examine his stances on these key issues to ensure we can have confidence in his ability to uphold the Constitution and our laws on behalf of all Americans," the ACLU's statement, attributed to Executive Director Anthony D. Romero, said.

Flynn, whose position in Trump'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. The president-elect said he is pleased that Flynn "will be by my side as we work to defeat radical Islamic terrorism, navigate geopolitical challenges and keep Americans safe at home and abroad."

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 Trump.

“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 Trump 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.

But his selection was also not delivered without objection from the ACLU, which said that his past "positions on bulk surveillance and Guantanamo Bay also raise serious civil liberties concerns about privacy and due process."

Madeline Conway, Josh Gerstein, Jeremy Herb, Jake Sherman, and Burgess Everett contributed to this report.