Trump ally Tom Cotton to head powerful Senate Intelligence Committee: Report – Washington Examiner

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) is set to become the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee during President-elect Donald Trump’s second term.

During Trump’s first term, Cotton was one of his loudest advocates in the Senate promoting stricter border policy and merit-based immigration. With the report from Punchbowl News on Tuesday morning, the Arkansas senator could once again play a critical role in shaping policy.

President Donald Trump, flanked by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR, left) and then-Sen. David Perdue (R-GA, right), speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington on Aug. 2, 2017, during the unveiling of legislation that would place new limits on legal immigration. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) presently holds the top Republican position on the powerful Senate Intelligence Committee. But with the Florida senator slated to become Trump’s secretary of state, the coveted position is up for grabs.

Cotton had previously confirmed he would not seek a White House role, preferring instead to remain in the Senate.

The Arkansas firebrand has also thrown his hat in the ring to assume the GOP’s No. 3 leadership position in the Senate. Should he gain the position as the GOP’s conference chairman, as well as the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Cotton would be one of the most powerful Republicans in the upper chamber.

Cotton’s reported new role marks the latest in a flurry of Trump appointments over the past few days. The president-elect’s second term has begun to take shape as he has tapped a series of top allies to critical positions since becoming the country’s 47th president last week.

Besides reports he has asked Rubio to head the State Department, Trump has also tapped a former head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Tom Homan, to be the “border czar,” offered House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) to be America’s ambassador to the United Nations, and appointed longtime ally Susie Wiles to become the first female White House chief of staff.

Trump has also picked Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD) to be his secretary of homeland security.

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Meanwhile, former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is a top Trump ally, launched a forum this week for the public to suggest who should be a part of the president-elect’s administration.

Thousands of people have used the “Nominees for the People” website to cast votes for the candidates of their choice to head top federal agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Education.