WASHINGTON—President Trump has been talking to advisers for months about a potential replacement for Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who was forced out Wednesday.

Here are some of the leading candidates Mr. Trump is considering, based on interviews with his advisers and people close to the White House.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar is among the leading candidates Mr. Trump is considering as a potential replacement for Mr. Sessions. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images

Alex Azar has served as Health and Human Services secretary since January. He previously served as general counsel for that agency in former President George W. Bush’s administration, then headed an affiliate of pharmaceutical maker Eli Lilly & Co. before returning to Washington. A person familiar with his thinking told The Wall Street Journal last month that Mr. Azar wasn’t interested in the top job at the Justice Department.

William P. Barr, pictured in 1991, spent two years as attorney general under former President George H.W. Bush. Photo: John Duricka/Associated Press

William P. Barr spent two years as attorney general under former Republican President George H.W. Bush. One of the people working under him was Pat Cipollone, who President Trump recently tapped for the vacant position of White House counsel.

Mr. Barr has said he first met Mr. Bush in the 1970s, when he worked at the Central Intelligence Agency, where Mr. Bush was director. He once gave an interview in which he described assisting Mr. Bush during testimony on the Hill. When Mr. Bush followed his advice answering a question, Mr. Barr said he thought to himself: “Who is this guy? He listens to legal advice when it’s given.”


Mr. Barr, 68, is now of counsel in the Washington, D.C., office of law firm Kirkland & Ellis. Some of Mr. Trump’s advisers see him as the sort of establishment figure Mr. Trump often derides on the campaign trail.

Pam Bondi, attorney general of Florida, is a longtime friend of Mr. Trump and his family. Photo: Chris Kleponis/Bloomberg News

Pam Bondi, a Republican, has served as attorney general of Florida since 2011. She is a longtime friend of Mr. Trump and his family—a relationship that has created controversy.

In 2013, Ms. Bondi’s office said it was reviewing allegations in a lawsuit from the New York attorney general that Trump University was a sham. Days later, the Donald J. Trump Foundation donated $25,000 to a political-action committee associated with Ms. Bondi’s re-election campaign, according to state election records. Ms. Bondi’s office determined it wasn’t necessary for Florida to join the New York complaint. A spokeswoman for the PAC said the donation was appropriate. Mr. Trump has declined to comment on allegations of impropriety.

In 2016, Ms. Bondi endorsed Mr. Trump’s campaign, and she has attended several White House events since his inauguration, including an Oct. 24 bill signing to combat opioid addiction.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is the public face of Mr. Trump’s legal defense. Photo: SMG/Zuma Press

Rudy Giuliani is a confidant of the president, serving as his outside lawyer in the Russia investigation. A former New York City mayor, Mr. Giuliani has become the public face of Mr. Trump’s legal defense, giving frequent interviews to news outlets on the president’s behalf.


He earned Mr. Trump’s trust during the 2016 presidential campaign, where he was a loyal adviser who stuck with Mr. Trump even when his prospects seemed dimmest. During the transition, Mr. Giuliani, 74, was considered for various positions in the administration and made the shortlist for secretary of state, a job that ultimately went to Rex Tillerson. Mr. Giuliani could face tough scrutiny during confirmation proceedings, however. Trump advisers said that his work on behalf of foreign clients could prove a handicap.

Matt Whitaker, who served as Mr. Sessions’ chief of staff since September 2017, was named acting attorney general Wednesday. Photo: allison shelley/Reuters

Matt Whitakerwas named acting attorney general Wednesday, having served as Mr. Sessions’ chief of staff since September 2017. In 2004, former President George W. Bush appointed him U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa, a position Mr. Whitaker held until late 2009. He later joined an Iowa law firm and headed a conservative watchdog group.

In 2014, he ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Iowa. He subsequently chaired the campaign for Iowa state treasurer of Sam Clovis. Mr. Clovis had also vied for the Iowa Senate nomination. Mr. Clovis, who served as a foreign-policy adviser on the 2016 Trump campaign, has since become a grand jury witness in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. Mr. Clovis hired a campaign aide who learned that Russia had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton during the election season. The aide has since pleaded guilty to lying to investigators.