The Senate Judiciary Committee is planning to move forward with Sen. Jeff Sessions’ (R-AL) attorney general nomination early next week. Committee staffers announced earlier this week that the committee would vote on Sessions’ nomination to lead the Justice Department on Jan. 24. The move means that Sessions will not get a confirmation vote on “day one” of the Trump administration.
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), a member of the committee, also publicly released his follow-up questions for Sessions on Tuesday, including asking him to weigh-in on if President-elect Donald Trump should have to divest his assets.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), the Senate’s No. 2 Republican, urged Democrats on Tuesday not to delay Trump’s nominees, specifically pointing to Sessions and Rex Tillerson, his pick to be secretary of state. Cornyn previously pointed to Sessions as one of the nominees Republicans hoped to confirm on “day one.”
A spokesman for the committee told The Hill late last week that any committee member will be able to request that a vote on Sessions’ nomination be “held over” until the committee’s next meeting. Read more at TheHill.