Posted on 11/14/2016 7:17:13 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama is the leading contender for Donald Trump's secretary of defense, sources close to the transition say — a choice that would reward the president-elect’s most outspoken congressional loyalist but offer few olive branches to a Trump-wary Republican national security establishment.
The two men haven’t seen eye to eye on everything: Session is a budget hawk who favors caps on defense spending, while Trump has called for an arms and troops buildup that could cost $55 billion or more per year. But sources say the three-term Alabama Republican senator has still emerged as the top candidate for Pentagon leader, perhaps the most important post in the upcoming Trump Cabinet.
Sessions chairs the subcommittee on the Armed Services Committee overseeing nuclear weapons policy — experience that would come in handy as the Defense chief. He's also much closer to Trump than any of the other options, and the president-elect may be wary about inserting someone into the key Cabinet post whom he’s not comfortable with.
Sessions hasn’t said publicly whether he wants the job, but sources say they expect him to have his pick of Cabinet posts — which also could include attorney general or Homeland Security secretary — and that he's leaning toward running the Defense Department.
Establishment Republican defense officials may still try to push back against a Sessions nomination as Pentagon chief, sources close to the transition say. The main alternative is Stephen Hadley, one of George W. Bush's former national security advisers, who unlike many other Bush alums shrewdly refrained from criticizing Trump during the campaign. Other possibilities include Bill Clinton's hawkish CIA director, Jim Woolsey, who endorsed Trump in September, as well as former Sen. Tim Talent of Missouri and outgoing Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
What’s wrong with Allen West? We won’t have to give up a Senate seat to get him.
Rather have him in the senate.
Alabama will not be electing any Dems to replace him.
Pray America woke
We won't be giving up a Senate seat. In Alabama we should be able to replace Sessions with another conservative so we won't have that problem.
“What’s wrong with Allen West? We won’t have to give up a Senate seat to get him.”
I think that Trump sees immigration as part of national defense.
I’m pulling for Howard Stern as Press Secretary just to give the press fits
first of all, is he a veteran?
It is odd that West’s name isn’t here. He went a little wobbly during the campaign, I think, but would be my choice.
we can give up senate seats....
Jeff can name any job he wants and Trump will give it to him. But we need him in the Senate watching those weak kneed turds
I like Lt. Col. Allan West...
I think he’s the perfect choice.
Either way...he should be a high ranking official in some capacity.
no - Ann Coulter for press sec.
I am just looking for the entertainment when she fights idiots like Anderson Cooper. He was trying to sound above it all today - but you saw that he was a liberal idiot every once in a while
All this is at this point is pure speculation. They are just trying to drum up hits on their website.
is there any chance that Sessions can be majority leader - or are we stuck with Mitch
i would love some backbone there - Mitch will loose every single day to Shumer
How about Senate Majority Leader?
I want Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin (Army-ret.)
You are correct about not giving up a senate seat. The bigger issue for those both in and outside Alabama is WHO the rino Gov will appoint as Sessions’ successor, should he make the Trump cabinet.
The Senate will have a majority of 51, supposedly...but not as long as Lindsay and McC are counted among that 51. If Bentley appoints a fellow rino, well ugh.
Not that I have any influence in this decisions, but speaking for most Alabamians, I would rather he stay put in the Senate, at least until we can vote for his replacement.
No I n Woolley. And Ayotte—why the hell is she even being considered?
Sessions would be great as Secretary of Defense. BAma will replace him with another conservative in the Senate.
Allen West is vastly overrated by you and others on this forum for reasons unknown. He has a lifetime ACU rating of 80. To put that in perspective, Rubio is 92. While he got railroaded in Iraq, a career Lt Col with a conservative rating less than Rubio is not Defense Dept material. Trump doesnt even know who he is and could care less.
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