WASHINGTON _ Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee challenged President's Donald Trump's nominee to run the Justice Department's criminal division over his prior representation of a Russian bank scrutinized for possible ties to the Trump campaign.
Brian Benczkowski, a partner at Kirkland & Ellis in Washington who led Trump's transition team at the Justice Department, advised the incoming administration on staffing and other matters. In March, shortly after ending his transition work, he began representing Alfa Bank, he said during the hearing Tuesday.
"His work for Alfa Bank went to the heart of the reported investigations," Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said during Tuesday's hearing. "He worked with a computer forensics firm to determine any ties between servers of Alfa Bank and the Trump Organization."
Benczkowski, who previously served as a top Senate aide to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, said during the hearing his work for the bank involved supervising an internal investigation. If confirmed, Benczkowski said he'd be recused from any matters involving Alfa Bank for two years.
When asked by Feinstein whether there was a connection between Alfa Bank and Trump's campaign team, Benczkowski said he wasn't aware of any.
Feinstein said she has requested a briefing from the Justice Department on any investigations regarding Alfa Bank.
Moscow-based Alfa Group has spent months vociferously denying that it has any ties to the president, his family business or his campaign. Alfa Bank has denied allegations in news reports of possible electronic communications between a server at the bank and one identified with the Trump Organization during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. And in January, after BuzzFeed published an intelligence dossier alleging in part that Alfa Bank was part of a Russian scheme to influence the 2016 election, Mikhail Fridman, the bank's founder, and his partners sued the site for defamation.
Benczkowski said he was asked by his law partner, Viet Dinh, to read the document published by BuzzFeed and determine whether a defamation claim was viable. He said the purpose of the representation was to take the findings to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Justice Department, which is what the firm did.
During questioning, Benczkowski said he didn't know whether Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russia's election meddling, was looking into the Alfa Bank matter.
