Democratic strategist David Axelrod on Friday panned President-elect Donald Trump’s three latest picks for his incoming administration.
{mosads}Axelrod, a former adviser to President Obama turned CNN commentator, said Trump’s initial choices show that he is sticking to his core supporters for top jobs. He added that the choices will be chilling to many, calling them a “monster’s ball.”
Axelrod made the comments in a series of tweets.
Trump is slated to name Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) as his attorney general, Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) as his CIA director and retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn as his national security adviser, sources have told The Hill.
Axelrod was not the only Democratic voice expressing frustration with Trump’s new trio of appointments Friday.
People for the American Way (PFAW), a liberal advocacy group, slammed the choice of Sessions for the Justice Department.
“The last time Senator Sessions sought Senate confirmation was 1986 when he was nominated to be a federal judge,” PFAW President Michael Keegan said in a statement.
“Despite the fact that Republicans controlled the chamber at the time, he was rejected because of a long history of racially insensitive remarks and a disastrous record on civil rights,” he added of Sessions, the first Senator to back Trump’s Oval Office bid.
“In the last 30 years, Sessions has done nothing that demonstrates the Senate’s judgment was incorrect or that he’s learned from his mistakes. If anyone still thinks that Donald Trump might govern with more responsibility or moderation than he campaigned, this nomination is a wakeup call. The Senate should reject this nomination.”
Trump’s transition team is racing to staff his future administration after the Republican’s White House win last week.
Trump on Tuesday lashed out at critics of the transition’s progress, saying a “very organized process [is] taking place.”
Trump announced last Sunday Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Reince Priebus will become his White House chief of staff. Stephen Bannon, the former Breitbart News chairman who served as CEO of Trump’s presidential campaign, will be the president-elect’s chief strategist and senior counselor.
Bannon’s appointment has provoked uproar from Democrats concerned by his tenure at Breitbart, a conservative news website. They say Breitbart is a platform for the “alt-right” and white nationalism.
Trump’s advisers have defended Bannon’s character, while many GOP lawmakers have avoided discussing his appointment.
Updated at 9:59 a.m.