|
|
|
|
CJA's Citizen Opposition to Senate Confirmation
VIDEO of Senate Judiciary Committee's
February 26, 2015 Executive Business Meeting
* * * Ranking Member Leahy: ... She has earned the respect and admiration of both republicans and democrats. I think of the people who testified, some who had complaints about the Justice Department, I asked everybody who testified, whether called by republicans or democrats, I said "Is there anybody here who would oppose her confirmation, raise your hand." And those of you who were there will remember that not a single hand went up. Senator Feinstein: ...not a single negative thing has emerged throughout the course of this hearing. And as I pointed out before, the civilian panel before us was asked the question by Senator Leahy, would any of you not vote for her and no one raised a hand. I thought that was really very significant. Senator Whitehouse: ...The republican committee staff have had months and months and months to do their job of prowling through her background and her history to look for damaging information. That is the prerogative of the staff, that is what they do. I do not fault them for doing that. What is noteworthy,though, is that after all that lengthy effort, at the hearing, not one witness could be produced, not one, to oppose her nomination. Senator Leahy made this very clear when he asked the entire panel does any of you oppose the nomination. Instead we brought in an array of witnesses who had various grievances about the Department of Justice, but nothing ill to say about this nominee . So we stand at this historic juncture and we have a completely unblemished nominee... ON THE COMMITTEE'S WRITTEN QUESTIONS Ranking Member Leahy: She testified before this committee for nearly eight hours. She responded to nearly 900 written questions... Senator Schumer: ...Ms. Lynch has answered more QFRs, more than 800, than any other nominee in history...and her responses have not been substantively different from her predecessors... Senator Coons: ....She's also, if my understanding is correct, answered 897 questions for the record, which must be some sort of record... ON THE COMMITTEE'S "PROCESS" Chairman Grassley:
I want to speak briefly on the process we've followed with this
nomination. This nomination arose during a somewhat unique set of
circumstances. Not only did the Senate majority change, but a couple new
members of the Senate joined our committee in January. It was very
important to me, as Chairman, to ensure those members had adequate time
to consider this nomination. And, as is often the case with cabinet
level appointments, we had to gather all of the relevant documents. I
want to take this opportunity to thank the Department of Justice for its
willingness and cooperation in working with us to gather those
documents. While it’s true that we were still gathering documents up
until a week or two before the hearing, I think it’s fair to say the
Department was working in good faith to get us the materials we needed.
Finally, since our last Executive Business Meeting, a number of members
submitted follow-up questions for the record seeking additional clarity
from the nominee. And Ms. Lynch responded to these questions last week.
One of the topics that some of us, myself included, wanted additional
information about was the settlement reached between Ms. Lynch’s office
and the HSBC Bank. I won’t take the time to go into the details of the
allegations raised in that bank matter. But it’s important for committee
members to know this: Had we voted on
Ms. Lynch’s nomination during our last meeting, our staffs wouldn’t have
been able to conduct the bipartisan interview, and I want to emphasize
the bipartisan interview, of a whistleblower like they did last week.
And, Ms. Lynch wouldn’t have had an opportunity
to respond to our questions on this subject. Senator Thom Tillis' February 26, 2015 press release
* * *
|
|
|
|
CJA Ho |
|
|
Post Office Box 8101 |
