PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - Maine’s independent U.S. senator says he will support President Donald Trump’s nomination for secretary of state, but oppose the president’s attorney general pick.
Sen. Angus King serves as one of two independent senators and caucuses with Democrats. He says he intends to support former Exxon chief executive officer Rex Tillerson as the nominee for secretary of state.
But King says he has reservations about Alabama’s Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions, the presumptive attorney general.
King says he spoke personally with Tillerson and concluded the former Exxon chief will serve as a “critical moderating influence” to balance “impulsive forces” in Trump’s administration.
King says he also met with Sessions, who he describes as a personal friend. He says he fears Sessions would afford Trump too much influence over the justice department.
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