Democratic Senator Chris Coons is calling for a hearing into possible presidential interference with U.S. attorneys’ offices after reports last month that President Donald Trump personally interviewed candidates for positions with oversight in districts sensitive to his business dealings, CNN reported.
Coons wrote a letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley last week and asked for a hearing based on a series of events that left him concerned that Trump did not respect the important boundaries between politics and the prosecutorial decisions of U.S. attorneys within the Department of Justice. The senator expressed concern over the resignation of former U.S. Attorney and Acting Assistant Attorney General Dana Boente. He resigned last month. Now Coons questions the, as he says, sudden nature of his resignation and the alleged connection between U.S. attorney’s office for the eastern district of Virginia and the FBI’s investigation into the reported Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election. Boente oversaw the office for the eastern district of Virginia. Coons stated that he hadn’t received an answer to the request for additional information on the resignation.
Senator Coons is not the only one who has suspicions. Last month Connecticut Democrat Richard Blumenthal said that he had talked to other senators about potentially blocking the nominees interviewed by Trump.
Speaking about the interviews, Attorney General Jeff Sessions in October before the Senate Judiciary Committee said “yes, we’ve done quite a number,” but afterwards retreated.
“I’m not sure I remember whether he had interviewed for New York but if you say so I assume so, and he has the right to for sure because he has to make an appointment and I assume everybody would understand that,” he said back then.
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