Donald Trump Taps Jeff Sessions for Attorney General, Mike Pompeo for CIA, Michael Flynn for National Security Adviser

President-elect Donald Trump announced on Friday that he intends to nominate Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama for attorney general and U.S. Rep. Mike Pompeo of Kansas for CIA director. Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn has been selected for White House national security adviser.

In a Friday statement from the Trump transition team, all three have accepted their offers. Filling three top slots within the incoming administration helps ease concerns after a rocky start for the Trump transition team.

Sessions, 69, who is currently serving his fourth Senate term, was the first sitting senator to endorse Trump. Throughout the campaign season, Sessions often offered validation from within the Republican party and frequently called on fellow Republicans to unite in support of Trump.

“Jeff has been a highly respected member of the U.S. Senate for 20 years," said Trump. "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.”

However, while serving as a U.S. prosecutor in Alabama, Sessions was rejected for a federal judgeship nomination in 1986 by a Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee because of racially charged words and actions.

Testifying before the committee, former colleagues said that Sessions had referred to civil rights groups — including the NAACP — as “un-American” and “Communist-inspired.” An African-American federal prosecutor then, Thomas Figures, provided testimony that Sessions had referred to him as “boy.” He added that Sessions said the Ku Klux Klan was “OK until I found out they smoked pot.”

Following Trump's meeting with Sessions earlier this week, his transition team took the unusual step of releasing a readout that highlighted Sessions' work as an attorney, saying, "While nothing has been finalized and he is still talking with others as he forms his cabinet, the President-elect has been unbelievably impressed with Senator Sessions and his phenomenal record as Alabama's Attorney General and US Attorney."

“My previous 15 years working in the Department of Justice were extraordinarily fulfilling. I love the Department, its people and its mission. I can think of no greater honor than to lead them," said Sessions, in a statement.

He added: "With the support of my Senate colleagues, I will give all my strength to advance the Department's highest ideals. 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."

In June, Sessions appeared to defend Trump's position on a proposed Muslim ban — something the president-elect has backed off in recent months.

"He simply said, and the way I understand it is, that we should slow down. Let's have a pause and begin to analyze where the threats are coming from," said Sessions. "We have a toxic ideology, hopefully very small within Islam; certainly most people, most Muslims don't agree with this violent, jihadist approach. And we need to figure out a better way to identify that."

“Not only would Jeff 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 Senate Judiciary Committee, but Jeff has also gained the deep respect of his Senate colleagues for his commitment to upholding the rule of law," Alabama’s senior senator, Republican Richard Shelby, said in a statement.

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas called the pick "great news for all of us who revere the Constitution and the rule of law" in a statement. He added that Sessions "has had an extraordinary career in government and law enforcement" and "will be an exceptional United States attorney general.”

Pompeo, the Trump CIA pick, was elected to the House in 2010 as a candidate aligned with the Tea Party and heavily funded by the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch. He was one of the prominent members of the House Benghazi committee that grilled Hillary Clinton about the 2012 attacks and her use of a private email server while she was secretary of state. When the committee released its report, Pompeo and Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio authored a separate report that was more sharply critical of Clinton.

“Officials at the State Department, including Secretary Clinton, learned almost in real time that the attack in Benghazi was a terrorist attack,” Pompeo and Jordan. “With the presidential election just 56 days away, rather than tell the American people the truth and increase the risk of losing an election, the administration told one story privately and a different story publicly.”

Flynn, Trump's national security adviser pick with more than 30 years of military experience, was the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency for two years under the Obama administration until he was forced out in 2014. He is known for, among other things, an aggressive position on foreign policy and hard-line views on Islam and friendly statements on Russia — all of which he has in common with Trump.

“I am pleased that Lieutenant General Michael 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,” said Trump.

However, Flynn's positions have, at times, landed him in hot water.

In February, Flynn posted on Twitter: "Fear of Muslims is RATIONAL" with a controversial video.

This story is developing and will be updated.

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr Commons