Republican and Democratic former Senate counsels say FBI checks are necessary on Trump nominees.
“Without nominees being scrutinized by the F.B.I., the danger is that neither lawmakers nor the public would know whether they are trustworthy or have issues that could compromise their ability to do the job or their loyalty to the United States,” Noah Bookbinder, who served as counsel for Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee from 2005-13, and Gregg Nunziata, who served as a counsel for the GOP members of the committee from 2005-08, wrote in a New York Times opinion piece published Friday.
The Trump transition team has so far refused to allow the FBI to do security clearances for transition members, which means Biden administration officials will not be able to share classified information with many of Trump’s aides.
The Senate “shouldn’t stand for it,” wrote Bookbinder and Nunziata.
“The nominees evaluated by the committee, if confirmed, would occupy positions of great importance; they make decisions every day that affect national security as well the lives of ordinary Americans,” they added.
“Those decisions include who is charged with crimes, who goes to prison, how the legal system and justice system work and how we treat civil rights and environmental laws … at a time when there are fewer and fewer meaningful checks on presidential power, the need for rigorous Senate consideration of nominees is all the more important. Without it, the president and his appointees could run roughshod over the government and over Americans’ lives with no one challenging them.”
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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