Getty Trump considering Palin to lead Veterans Affairs

Donald Trump is considering tapping former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin as his secretary of Veterans Affairs, according to two Trump transition sources.

Palin was an early endorser of Trump, throwing her support to him before the Iowa caucuses, making her one of his highest profile backers at the time. “Are you ready for the leader to make America great again?” she said then.

Palin, who, like Trump, has been a lightning rod for liberal criticism, campaigned for Trump through the campaign’s final days, including in Michigan.

Among her chief competitors for the Veterans Affairs post, according to one transition source, is former Sen. Scott Brown, another relatively early Trump backer, who visited the president-elect in Trump Tower earlier this month.

Brown acknowledged his interest to reporters afterward, calling the VA “the toughest job in the Cabinet.”

“We obviously spoke about my passion and his passion, which [is] veterans and veterans issues,” Brown said, adding that Trump was “going to obviously take my application, interest under consideration.”

Trump also met this week with Pete Hegseth, a Fox News contributor and former head of a veterans advocacy group, Concerned Veterans for America.

Another name that has circulated is Rep. Jeff Miller, who has served as chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs.

Trump aides have discussed the possibility of Palin joining the administration for months, in part because they believe she was an effective surrogate during the campaign, rallying Trump's supporters.

Palin has had conversations with Trump's transition team, a Palin aide confirmed.

But two people close to the transition cast doubt on whether she'll ultimately be tapped for an administration job.

Palin has previously been linked to a possible spot as head of the Department of the Interior, including on an early document that was circulated among transition officials.

Steve Bannon, who will serve as Trump’s chief strategist in the White House, has been among Palin’s cheerleaders for years, featuring her in a 2011 documentary called The Undefeated.

After Bannon was named chief strategist, Palin defended him from his critics in a lengthy Facebook post in mid-November, writing that Bannon "is particularly bright on the Leftist media's radar because they can not handle the fact he's also from their arena but has been enormously more influential than his peers."

"The Steve Bannon I know is a passionate defender of freedom and he lives by example. He's a patriot; a military veteran and proud Army dad," Palin wrote.

Last year at CPAC, Palin gave a speech in which she criticized the VA and called for reforms at the department.

"We can't wait for D.C. to fix their bureaucratic blunders. This bureaucracy is killing our vets. They wait for months. They wait for years to get treatment at the VA and they're losing hope," she said.

Ken Vogel and Alex Isenstadt contributed.