Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley put a hold on a counterintelligence pick of President Donald Trump's over the nominee's lack of response to questions about showing up in texts between rogue FBI employees.
William Evanina, Trump's pick to be the next director of national counterintelligence and security center, already made it out of committee, is already doing the job and up for a full Senate vote, something Grassley cannot stop.
But a hold does mean the Senate would need to chew up days in cloture if Evanina does not respond to Grassley and other senators, The Hill reports.
Grassley wants to know why "Evanina" shows up in text messages between FBI agent Peter Strzok and former agency attorney Lisa Page.
"The committee needs to more fully understand the meaning of the apparent references to Mr. Evanina in the Strzok-Page texts and will need to obtain further context from him and the Justice Department in order to do so before I could consent to proceeding to consider his confirmation," Grassley wrote on the Congressional Record.
"My objection is not intended to question the credentials of Mr. Evanina in any way. However, the executive branch must recognize that it has an ongoing obligation to respond to congressional inquiries in a timely and reasonable manner," Grassley wrote.
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