The Vermont senator has asked U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., to answer 37 additional questions before Leahy decides whether he will support Sessions to be the nation’s top law enforcement officer.
Leahy put the questions in writing and requested answers before the Senate Judiciary Committee votes on whether to put Sessions’ nomination before the full Senate. Leahy is a member of the Judiciary Committee and offered sharply critical questions during Sessions’ confirmation hearings last week.
Each new question is pointed, detailed and direct, ranging in topic from surveillance power to marijuana legalization. Leahy is clearly looking to extract promises Sessions didn’t make during the marathon of in-person questioning.
A number of Leahy’s written questions, which were submitted to Sessions on Tuesday, concern various grant programs Leahy has long supported — a number of which may now be in jeopardy.
Leahy was the lead sponsor of the 2013 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act which, among other things, offered 25 separate federal grant programs that provide funding to various groups and organizations that help victims of abuse.
On Thursday The Hill reported that Trump’s budget team was considering the abolishment of the 25 grant programs, as well as other federal programs. The budget blueprint Trump’s team is using comes from the conservative Heritage Foundation.
In his questionnaire, Leahy asked Sessions if he would commit to preserving these programs, which doled out $480 million last year.
“The Heritage Foundation may set priorities for the far right in Congress, but it does not set priorities for the rest of America,” Leahy said in a statement Thursday. “The Violence Against Women Act has a proven track record protecting women and the victims of abuse. If the president-elect outsources his budget to the far right he will be doubling down against women who have survived abuse.”
“I will fight against any attempt to undermine a law that has saved lives and enabled victims to rebuild their lives,” he concluded.
In his written questions, Leahy also asked about the Executive Office for Immigration Review, another branch of the Justice Department within the purview of the attorney general.
Leahy said immigration courts have begun to recognize domestic violence as a proper justification to claim asylum. He asked: “If confirmed as attorney general, will you commit to protecting victims of domestic violence who fear being returned to their home countries?”
Vermont’s senior senator also returned to a line of questioning raised during the hearings by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who spoke of Sessions’ connection to the David Horowitz Freedom Center.
In 2014, Sessions received the Daring the Odds award from the organization, which has been labeled anti-Muslim by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Horowitz has been quoted as claiming Muslims have infiltrated the U.S. government and calling those who practice the religion “Islamic Nazis.”
Another Horowitz quote: “Obama is an anti-American radical and I’m actually sure he’s a Muslim, he certainly isn’t a Christian. … He’s a pretend Christian in the same way he’s a pretend American.”
In his response to Blumenthal at the time, Sessions said: “I do not believe David Horowitz is a racist or a person that would treat anyone improperly, at least to my knowledge.”
In his written questions Leahy asked Sessions whether, now that he has “had the opportunity to learn more about the extremist remarks Mr. Horowitz has made,” he would disavow his connection to Horowitz.
(In his follow-up questioning, Leahy also noted Sessions’ connection to the Center for Security Policy, which has also been labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The group has, among other things, asserted without evidence that two Islamic members of Congress are secret members of the Muslim Brotherhood.)
A number of questions were also dedicated to the potential conflict of interests Trump may have once inaugurated. Legal scholars — including former President George W. Bush’s ethics lawyer — have suggested that Trump’s various business connections across the world will ensure he violates the emoluments clause of the U.S. Constitution once he is sworn in.
The obscure rule bars any officeholder from receiving any present or profit from a foreign state. In his questioning Leahy picked just one property that could be seen as violating the emolument clause: Trump Tower, where the largest tenant making rent payments is China’s state-owned Industrial and Commercial Bank.
“What steps will you take to ensure that the new administration eliminates its conflicts of interest?” Leahy asked. “Will you recuse yourself from conflicts of interest charges against the president-elect or members of his family?”
In addition to Leahy’s questions on Trump’s tangled financial ties, all of the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee wrote a letter to Sessions on Tuesday urging him to allow any investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and recuse himself from those proceedings.
While a number of Democrats on the committee have announced their intention to vote against Sessions, Leahy said he will wait until he evaluates Sessions’ responses to his supplemental questions before making a decision.
The full list of supplemental questions Leahy submitted is available here.
The Judiciary Committee is scheduled to meet Tuesday for a markup hearing to take up Sessions’ nomination and consider sending it to the full Senate for a vote.
