Donald Trump on Friday named conservative Republican Jeff Sessions, the first senator to back his candidacy, as his pick for attorney general — a move applauded by conservatives but bashed by some civil-rights groups.
“The president-elect has been unbelievably impressed with Senator Sessions and his phenomenal record as Alabama’s attorney general and US attorney. It is no wonder the people of Alabama re-elected him without opposition,” Team Trump said in a statement.
The Alabama senator, 69, pledged to do the job with “fairness and impartiality.”
“I will give all my strength to advance the department’s highest ideals,” he 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.”
Sessions should easily be confirmed, as he needs only a simple majority vote from the Republican-dominated Senate.
But some Democrats were wary.
“Given some of his past statements and his staunch opposition to immigration reform, I am very concerned about what he would do with the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice and want to hear what he has to say,” said New York Sen. Charles Schumer, the newly elected Democratic Senate leader.
The ACLU also slammed the pick.
But Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was among numerous Republicans praising the selection.
“He is a committed and deeply principled conservative,” Cruz said, “and if those who serve in this administration have even a fraction of his integrity and his commitment to principle, we are going to see an administration that does remarkable things for the people of this country.”
Sessions was nominated by President Ronald Reagan for a federal judgeship in 1986 but was denied the post after accusations he had made racially insensitive statements, including saying he thought the KKK was “OK” until he found out they smoked pot.
As AG, he would head up the Justice Department and the FBI.
Trump also announced his picks for CIA director and national security adviser — Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) and retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, respectively. Both are hard-line conservatives.
Pompeo, a Harvard law grad who was first in his class at West Point, is a harsh critic of the Iran nuke deal. He has said that former NSA analyst Edward Snowden, who leaked classified material, was guilty of treason and should face the death penalty.
Pompeo is also a fierce critic of the Iranian nuke deal.
“I look forward to rolling back this disastrous deal with the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism,” he tweeted Thursday, before his offer to head up the CIA director was made public.
His nomination won loud applause through the Republican ranks. Dan Senor, a former foreign-policy adviser to Mitt Romney, tweeted that Pompeo is a “superb pick” and had “distinguished himself” in Congress on national security.
Flynn rose through the ranks of military intelligence on the strength of his reputation as an astute professional and an unconventional thinker. After retiring from the military in 2014, he quickly turned on the Obama administration and accused it of being soft on terrorism.
In recent public comments, including his fiery address at the Republican National Convention, Flynn has emphasized his view that ISIS extremists posed an existential threat on a global scale, and he demanded a far tougher US military campaign against terrorists. As Trump’s national security adviser, Flynn would not require Senate confirmation.
Also Friday, GOP sources told the Washington Post that ex-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, an evangelical Christian, was a possible pick for US ambassador to Israel.
With Post Wires