Top law job 'offered to Jeff Sessions' - Trump election

Donald Trump has asked Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions to be attorney general, US media report.

Mr Sessions, a former prosecutor elected to the Senate in 1996, has been one of Mr Trump's closest allies throughout the campaign.

Meanwhile, retired Lt-Gen Michael Flynn is understood to have accepted the position of national security adviser.

Both men have courted controversy over their views. Mr Trump has yet to confirm the appointments himself.

But transition officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told news agencies Mr Sessions and Mr Flynn had both been offered posts in the future administration.

Conservative Republican Mike Pompeo has been offered the role of CIA director, the sources added.

Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer, who is involved in the Trump presidential transition, would not confirm the reports on CNN, saying: "Until Donald Trump says it, it's not official."

Mr Sessions and Gen Flynn have been close allies of Mr Trump since the early days of his campaign and share many of his views.

Mr Sessions opposes any path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and was an enthusiastic backer of Mr Trump's pledge to build a wall on the border with Mexico.

In 1986, Mr Sessions was nominated by then-President Ronald Reagan for a federal judgeship, but was rejected because of allegations that he had made racist remarks. He strongly denied the claims.

Gen Flynn, a vocal critic of the Obama administration since he was ousted as director of the Defence Intelligence Agency in 2014, agrees with Mr Trump on renegotiating the Iran nuclear deal, strengthening ties with Russia and intensifying the fight against Islamic extremists.

Kansas Congressman Mr Pompeo originally backed Marco Rubio as the Republican candidate but supported Mr Trump after he won the nomination.

He has also been a fierce critic of President Barack Obama's nuclear deal with Iran, tweeting on Thursday: "I look forward to rolling back this disastrous deal with the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism."

In other developments:

• Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe emerged from a meeting with Mr Trump saying he had "great confidence" in him and believes they can build a relationship of trust
• Republican ex-presidential candidate Mitt Romney will meet Mr Trump this weekend, according to US media
• Mr Trump will embark on a "victory tour" to "states that we won and the swing states we flipped over", according to Trump campaign's advance team director, George Gigicos