Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa made the following statement after the hearing for U.S. Attorney General nominee Loretta Lynch was completed.
“I appreciate Ms. Lynch coming before the committee. She has impressive qualifications, but a number of members want to know whether those qualifications can transfer to correcting the serious problems at the Justice Department. Today’s witnesses provided valuable insight into those problems and I thank them for the time each of them took to share their unique perspectives.
“Going forward, committee members will have a week to submit questions to Ms. Lynch. I hope she provides timely and responsive answers to the committee. But, people should expect a thorough vetting of her answers. There are still issues to consider before moving forward.
“As Chairman, I was very pleased with the two days of testimony. There was a lot of juggling with the votes on the floor, something we’re not used to around here, but overall it was a productive session. I do regret, however, the treatment the outside witnesses received today. It was unfortunate that one member felt the need to tarnish the integrity of Americans who came before the committee to help us evaluate a nominee for a very important position.
“Every single one of these witnesses speaks directly to Ms. Lynch’s nomination. The question in my mind is if Ms. Lynch will take the issues seriously and work to fix them. In addition, it wasn’t too long ago that Democrats agreed it was perfectly appropriate to call witnesses to address what they viewed as problems at the Justice Department.
“I look forward to reviewing the hearing record and reading her answers to our additional questions.”
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