Sen. Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, announced Wednesday that he intends to block President Trump’s nominee for the top post monitoring terrorism financing at the Treasury until the department releases documents relating to Trump and his dealings with Russia.
“I have stated repeatedly that we have to follow the money if we are going to get to the bottom of how Russia has attacked our democracy,” the Oregon Democrat said in a statement Thursday afternoon announcing the “hold” on the nomination of Sigal Mandelker to be undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.
Wyden said the hold would remain in place until the requested documents were provided to the Finance and Intelligence committees. On Wednesday, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, Sen. Mark Warner, told reporters that he had requested documents from the Treasury showing any ties between Trump or his campaign associates and outside entities, including Russia.
Following Trump’s unexpected decision late Tuesday to fire FBI Director James Comey, who was tasked with investigating any ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, Democrats sought Wednesday to renew and emphasize concern about Russia’s involvement in the elections.
Mandelker, a partner at the law firm Proskauer Rose in New York, served in the George W. Bush Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security. She is scheduled to have a confirmation hearing with the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday.
