Things are moving at the DoJ!
This guy has an interesting new position and the Dems don't like it.
They're going to throw fits about the latest confirmation of a DoJ employee bc they think he has ties to Russia. (naturally). The fact is those alleged "ties" have already been investigated by the FBI and they gave the all clear.
The new head of the Justice Department's Criminal Division is Brian A. Benczkowski.
"“Brian is an outstanding lawyer with a diverse public service and criminal law background spanning over 20 years,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement. “At a time like this — with surging violent crime and an unprecedented drug epidemic — this position is especially important.”
Mr. Benczkowski, 48, has worked since 2010 as a lawyer focused on white-collar criminal defense cases at the firm Kirkland & Ellis. In that job, he helped Russia’s Alfa Bank investigate whether its computer servers had contacted the Trump Organization, a question that touched directly on suspicions about the bank that emerged in the early months of the Trump-Russia affair.
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The F.B.I., which also investigated, found that data moving between the bank and the Trump Organization did not amount to clandestine communications, and some experts suggested that it was related to Trump hotel marketing materials.
But Democratic senators said Mr. Benczkowski’s decision to take on the Alfa Bank work last year amid heightened scrutiny over relations between Trump associates and Russia showed a lack of good judgment. Alfa Bank’s owners have ties to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, and Mr. Benczkowski worked closely with the Trump transition team and was once a Senate Judiciary Committee staff member when Mr. Sessions was on the committee.
“The main criticism is that Brian will be the person in the Justice Department who oversees sensitive cases, criminal trials and people who make calls on things like search warrants,” said Joyce Vance, a former United States attorney for the Northern District of Alabama.
He will also help oversee the special counsel investigation into Russian election interference and possible ties to the Trump campaign as well the inquiry into Michael D. Cohen, Mr. Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, which is being conducted by federal prosecutors in Manhattan.
"Mr. Benczkowski has told lawmakers that he supported Mr. Mueller’s investigation but would not promise to recuse himself from issues involving Russia. Mr. Sessions has stepped back from election-related matters, including the Russia investigation, which is overseen by Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general.
sauce: https://archive.is/Is4wu