Sessions leading choice for defense secretary
Establishment Republican defense officials may try to push back against a Sessions nomination as Pentagon chief, sources close to the transition say.
By Jeremy Herb and Connor O’Brien
11/14/16 07:30 PM EST
Updated 11/15/16 05:29 AM EST
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: Sessions 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 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.
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http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/jeff-sessions-defense-secretary-231378
