Hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee - Executive Business Meeting

Hearing

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.

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