Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, has come under fire after signaling a fight over President-elect Joe Biden’s likely nominees’ past comments and business ties. Cornyn’s critics suggest he has spent the last four years defending President Trump and his appointees over even bigger ethics scandals.
Cornyn, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, repeatedly criticized Democrats for delaying confirmation proceedings for Trump’s nominees in 2017. Even as Trump attempts to contest the results of the 2020 election, Cornyn has already pushed back on Biden’s Cabinet and White House selections.
The majority whip slammed Neera Tanden, the president of the Center for American Progress and Biden’s pick to head the Office of Management and Budget, as perhaps the “worst nominee so far” over her “combative and insulting comments.” Spokesman Drew Brandewie went further, declaring on Twitter that Tanden “stands zero chance of being confirmed” over her “endless stream of disparaging comments about Republican Senators.” These comments quickly drew charges of hypocrisy. Cornyn has personally attacked numerous Democrats and spent years defending, downplaying and dismissing Trump’s Twitter invective, itself occasionally aimed at Republicans.
Cornyn has also raised questions over Biden aides’ ties to consulting and investment firms and their undisclosed clients, tweeting that the “Senate is not obligated to confirm anyone who hides this information.”
“We have simply no idea what kind of business or financial relationships these individuals have with foreign powers that can influence their actions as high-ranking government officials,” he said on the Senate floor.
The comments were in significant contrast to Cornyn’s complaints that Democrats hurt government readiness by slow-walking Trump’s conflict-plagued nominees despite numerous ethics questions.
“After years of fighting tooth and nail against any transparency and scrutiny measures surrounding President Trump’s Cabinet nominees, Cornyn’s recent threats and newfound focus on the Senate’s role in scrutinizing nominees doesn’t pass the smell test,” Mairead Lynn, a spokesperson for the progressive government watchdog Accountable.US and its “Senate War Room,” said in a statement to Salon. “This is an obvious partisan stunt in an attempt to delay and deny President-elect Biden a functional government that is ready on day one to start cleaning up Trump’s disastrous pandemic response and rebuilding our economy in a way that puts workers and families ahead of corporate donors and special interest allies.”
Strikingly, Lynn’s comments seem to echo Cornyn’s complaints during the confirmation battles over Trump nominees like Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, which the group detailed in a new report.
The report listed a dozen statements Cornyn released in early 2017 hammering Democrats…
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