11/8/2018

ATTORNEY GENERAL/JEFF SESSIONS/JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/LABOR/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “President Donald Trump is considering former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to replace fired Attorney General Jeff Sessions, sources familiar with the matter said. Trump fired Sessions on Wednesday without immediately naming a replacement, instead installing Sessions’ chief of staff Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general. Both Christie and Bondi are longtime political allies of the President’s and were initially considered contenders for the Justice Department perch during the transition. Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta also is under consideration, according to a senior Senate Republican aide and a source familiar with the process. Given Trump’s long-standing frustrations with Sessions, other potential contenders have cropped up in Trump-friendly circles in recent months, including Whitaker, Solicitor General Noel Francisco, Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, former Judge John Michael Luttig, Judge Edith Jones, former Judge Janice Rogers Brown, retiring Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-South Carolina, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina.”

Jeremy Diamond, Sarah Westwood and Jim Acosta, “Trump considering Christie, Bondi, Acosta for attorney general,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, November 8, 2018 8:03 pm