Trump Moving Swiftly to Solidify His National Security Team

Jeff Sessions’ well-documented and unrefuted record of bigotry and racism disqualified his nomination to a federal judgeship in the 1980s by a GOP-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee.

Taking a softer tone, Trump and Romney seemed to bury the hatchet at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey – where the businessman-turned-politician moved his White House transition team for the weekend – in a meeting that lasted about an hour and a half. Trump has backed harsh interrogation techniques that Obama and Congress have banned, saying the U.S. Elizabeth Warren of MA demanded that Trump withdraw Sessions, while Sen.

Pompeo has said Muslim leaders contribute to the threat of terrorism by refusing to repudiate it, although Islamic leaders and advocacy groups have done so repeatedly, and often. Unlike Sessions and Flynn, his political connection to the new administration is vice president-elect Mike Pence, not Trump himself.

Trump on Friday also named retired Lt. Gen Michael Flynn as his national security adviser.

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Trump was considering retired General David Petraeus, who resigned as Central Intelligence Agency chief in 2012 after an extra-marital affair was revealed, for the post of defense secretary. Trump’s selection of Sessions for Attorney General is an extremely troubling choice which threatens many ongoing domestic justice issues related to race, equality, marijuana, sentencing guidelines and incarceration.

Sessions denied making those comments.

But Sessions will likely go through a contentious Senate confirmation, where Democrats are sure to bring up accusations that he made racially charged remarks as a federal prosecutor. Her most visceral reaction to Trump’s picks?

Sessions is now serving as a U.S. Senator from Alabama and previously as the state’s Attorney General.

“No, sir, it does not”, Sessions said. He was also meeting with 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who lambasted Trump as a “con man” and a “fraud” in a stinging speech in March.

“I know Sen. Sessions and we work out in the gym, but the fact that he is a senator does not absolve him from answering tough questions in the confirmation process”, incoming Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement.

Lennie Gerber, an 80-year-old resident of High Point, North Carolina, who led the fight against her state’s ban on same-sex marriage, said she anxious Trump’s appointments will further incite such sentiments among the public. Three-fourths of them said the US was doing very badly or somewhat badly at dealing with IS. I strongly urge President-elect Trump to withdraw this nomination, and if not withdrawn, I call on the Senate to reject this nominee.

The upcoming challenge for legalization advocates like Angell, he says, “is going to be to convince the new president to do what he said he would do”.

Pompeo, a congressman from Kansas, is a prominent critic of the nuclear deal president Barack Obama forged with Iran, and tweeted on November 17 that he looked forward to reversing it. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., for the Republican nomination for president, but then promoted Trump’s bid for the White House. However the United States president-elect will need the Senate to confirm his Cabinet nominations, and Sessions could face some trouble due to a checkered past around his views on race. -By Jonathan Lemire. _ 6:50 a.m. RNC communications director Sean Spicer tells Fox News Channel’s “Fox and Friends” the billionaire businessman isn’t “looking at someone’s political affiliation, whether they supported him or not”.

In the meantime, the Trump transition named agency landing teams for the departments of Defense, State and Justice, along with the National Security Council, to help smooth the transfer of power in the weeks leading up to Trump’s inauguration January 20. Trump responded by calling Romney a “loser” who “choked like a dog” during the 2012 election and let President Barack Obama win.

In this May 23, 2005 file photo, then real estate mogul and Reality TV star Donald Trump, left, listens as Michael Sexton introduces him at a news conference in NY where he announced the establishment of Trump University. Flynn’s selection amounts to Trump’s first signal to allies and adversaries about the course he could take in office. The official was not authorized to discuss the offer publicly and insisted on anonymity.

Flynn’s appointment does not need approval from the Senate. He signed on early as an adviser on national security issues, backing Trump throughout a campaign in which virtually the entire military-intelligence apparatus, including most Republican specialists in this area, supported Hillary Clinton.