Trump picks Jeff Sessions as Attorney General

President-elect Donald Trump has settled on Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions for attorney general, according to two people familiar with the matter.

It wasn’t immediately clear if Trump has formally offered the job to Sessions, a lawyer who was an early and ardent Trump backer, but the people familiar said Trump wants Sessions in the role.

A Trump aide on Thursday night called Texas Senator Ted Cruz, a one-time Trump rival who was under serious consideration for the role, to tell him the job was instead going to Sessions, one of the people familiar said. The people asked not to be named because the decision has not yet been made public.

At Trump Tower Thursday, reporters in the lobby asked Sessions if he’d like to serve in a Trump administration.

“Well, I’d be honored to be considered and Mr. Trump will make those decisions,” he said. Asked if he preferred the attorney general slot, he answered: “I haven’t — if he asked me, I’ll share with him but I’m not talking about my agenda at this point.”

Early Backer

The move would elevate one of Trump’s earliest congressional backers, and one of the most conservative senators, to serve as the nation’s top law enforcement official.

The 69-year-old, four-term Alabama Republican is a hard-liner on free trade and immigration, arguing that prospective immigrants don’t have constitutional protections. He has opposed efforts to overhaul prison sentencing, back off the war on drugs and legalize marijuana.

Sessions, a former federal prosecutor, was one of the few lawmakers to defend Trump after he proposed a complete shutdown on Muslims entering the U.S. He told Stephen Bannon — the former Breitbart News chief named as Trump’s chief White House strategist — on a radio show in 2015 that Trump was “treading on dangerous ground” but it is “appropriate to begin to discuss” the issue.

The attorney general represents the U.S. in legal matters and gives advice to the president and government agencies. The Justice Department’s broad portfolio includes prosecution of white-collar crime and enforcement of antitrust and civil rights laws. Sessions would oversee all the U.S. attorneys’ offices.