[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 201 (Thursday, December 20, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S7974]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    NOMINATION OF WILLIAM R. EVANINA

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, yesterday one of my colleagues came to 
the floor to talk about my objection to the unanimous consent request 
relating to the nomination of William R. Evanina.
  When I noticed my intention to place a hold on this nominee back in 
June of this year, I made it very clear to the public and to the 
administration my reasons for doing so, and I put my statement of those 
reasons in the Record. I have done that consistently, not only since 
the rules of the Senate require every Member to do that but even before 
that rule was ever put in place. When I put a hold on a bill or a hold 
on a nominee, I don't ever want anybody to, say, put the adjective 
``secret'' before the word ``hold'' because there is nothing secret 
about what I do when I place a hold on something.
  The Judiciary Committee has experienced difficulty in obtaining 
relevant documents and briefings from the Justice Department and the 
Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
  For example, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein personally 
assured me the Senate Judiciary Committee would receive equal access to 
information that had been provided to the House Permanent Select 
Committee on Intelligence with regard to any concessions in its 
negotiations regarding pending subpoenas from that committee related to 
the 2016 election controversies. I have not received equal access, as 
promised, on that front.
  On August 7 of this year, I wrote to the Justice Department and 
pointed out that the House Intelligence Committee had received 
documents related to Bruce Ohr that we had not received. The Department 
initially denied those records had been provided to the House 
Intelligence Committee. After my staff confronted the Department on 
that misinformation, we eventually received some Bruce Ohr documents.
  In that 2018 letter I have referred to, I asked for documents based 
on my equal access agreement with Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein, 
and as you might expect, I have not received a response to date.
  This morning, I had Acting Attorney General Whitaker in my office for 
issues he wanted to bring up, but I also had an opportunity to present 
him with three pages--fairly finely printed--that had a multitude of 
requests for information that in my constitutional role of oversight of 
the Justice Department, they should be providing to me. Some of them 
have nothing to do with this hold, but the Department does have a 
pretty good record of not responding to this chairman of the Judiciary 
Committee on things I have a constitutional responsibility to do.
  I also have a promise from these Department heads that they will 
supply information when Congress asks for it. Since that 2018 letter, I 
have learned the Justice Department has taken the position that 
Director Coats has prohibited them from sharing the requested records 
with the committee.
  In addition to the records that were requested in May of this year, 
the Director of National Intelligence and the Justice Department 
provided a briefing in connection with a pending House Intel subpoena 
to which no Senate Judiciary Committee member was invited. Thus far, 
the committee's attempts to schedule any equivalent briefing have been 
ignored. The administration's lack of cooperation has forced my hand. 
So then, I continue to press for this hold on this nominee.
  My objection, if there were ever a request for a unanimous consent to 
move ahead, is not intended to question the credentials of Mr. Evanina 
in any way whatsoever. However, the executive branch must recognize it 
has an ongoing obligation to respond to congressional inquiries in a 
timely and reasonable manner.

                          ____________________