Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley said Wednesday that he will keep one of President Barack Obama's State Department nominees from being approved until he gets better answers from the administration about the employment of Huma Abedin, long-time aide to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Grassley, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, said that he's planning to place a hold on the nominee due to the lack of response from the State Department about how its Special Government Employee designation works, particularly as it relates to Abedin, according to a statement
on Grassley's Senate website.
"These actions illustrate a pattern of conduct that clearly demonstrates a lack of cooperation and bad faith in its interaction with Congress," Grassley said. "This is unacceptable and cannot continue."
The Iowa Republican says he's been seeking answers since June 2013 concerning the special status that was used by Abedin, which enabled her to work for both the State Department and private entities during the same period.
There are now more questions about her status during her time at the State Department after it was revealed that Clinton kept official emails on a private server that she kept in her home in New York. Abedin also used a private email address for official business that was linked to the same server.
The decision to object to unanimous consent over the State Department nomination will affect David Robinson, who was tapped by Secretary of State John Kerry to serve as Assistant Secretary for Conflict and Stabilization Operations and Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization.
"The nominee is an innocent victim of the State Department’s contemptuous failures to respond to congressional inquiries," Grassley added.
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