Prepared Statement by Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa
Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee
Executive Business Meeting
April 16, 2015
Today, we have three nominees on the agenda for the first time: Sally Yates to be Deputy Attorney General; Kara Stoll to be Circuit Judge for the Federal Circuit; and Roseann Ketchmark to be District Judge for the Western District of Missouri.
There’s a request to hold over the nominations, so they’ll be held over. Although I included Ms. Yates on today’s agenda, I’d note that she didn’t answer a number of the written questions I asked. I was particularly disappointed in her responses regarding the Office of Legal Counsel’s opinion on the President’s decision to release the Taliban 5 in exchange for Sgt. Bergdahl without notifying Congress as the law requires. In her answers, Ms. Yates appears to be claiming Executive Privilege.
In fact, the Department seems to be going so far as to claim privilege over the dates emails were supposedly sent. Of course, the dates that pertinent emails were sent can’t possibly be covered by executive privilege. I can’t imagine what is so embarrassing about that email correspondence that the Administration won’t even disclose to the American people the dates when these emails were sent.
So, I anticipate sending some follow-up questions by the end of today. I expect that she’ll return those questions to the Committee before next week, so that we are in a position to move forward.
-30-