Post by Admin on Jul 25, 2013 14:22:53 GMT
President Obama's nominee for the No. 2 spot at the Homeland Security Department ran into a wall of criticism ahead of a planned confirmation hearing late Thursday morning, as Republicans scrambled to try and postpone the hearing amid allegations he may have improperly helped a firm run by Hillary Clinton's brother.
Alejandro Mayorkas, the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, is under investigation by the department's inspector general. He is so far still set to testify at 11 a.m. ET before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
But Republicans, in a letter Wednesday to committee Chairman Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., claimed the news of the investigation took them by surprise. They said neither the White House nor Mayorkas had disclosed the existence of the probe to them before -- the investigation was first reported on Tuesday.
"We believe it is neither appropriate nor fair to consider the nomination of an individual under investigation," the lawmakers wrote. The letter was signed by Sens. Tom Coburn, R-Okla.; John McCain, R-Ariz.; Rob Portman, R-Ohio; and Ron Johnson, R-Wis. They said lawmakers would be hamstrung in asking about an ongoing investigation during the hearing, yet would need to know those details in order to fairly consider the nomination.