Lynch faces new hurdle in confirmation

The nomination of Loretta Lynch for attorney general could stall until legislation to tighten human trafficking laws is complete.

Although passed unanimously through the Senate Judiciary Committee last month, abortion language contained within the bill kept the legislation from advancing through the Senate.

The bill would establish a fund to raise money for victims of child abuse and child trafficking. The point of contention comes from the inclusion of the Hyde Amendment, which would prohibit the funds from being spent on abortions. This point was not raised when the legislation was voted on in committee.

"You can blame it on staff, blame it on whoever you want to blame," Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said last week. "But we didn't know it was in the bill, and ... the bill will not come off this floor as long as that language is in the bill."

TRENDING: Georgia House passes 4 key election changes to ensure 2020 disaster never happens again

Read the explosive backstory inside the HSBC scandal – how WND first exposed the massive money-laundering scheme, the fallout from the eye-popping discovery and the role Loretta Lynch played in “Launder-gate.”

But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., cautioned ahead of the vote that the Loretta Lynch nomination won't come to a vote until the human trafficking bill is complete.

The blockage represents the latest hurdle in Lynch's confirmation process.

"Any additional lag time on Lynch – who has already waited far longer than other recent attorneys general to be confirmed – poses risks for both sides," reports Politico. "Democrats believe the GOP would be damaged politically if a perception takes hold it is holding up Lynch, who would make history as the first black woman to serve as U.S. attorney general. But the longer her nomination lingers in the open, the more time there is for wavering Senate Republicans to break against her – meaning that Lynch could be confirmed with the fewest number of 'yes' votes in history."

Earlier delays included lame-duck Democrats who pushed her nomination into 2015, and Republican opposition after her confirmation hearing in January during which she testified that Obama's executive actions on immigration are legal.

"Lynch's nomination can be brought to the floor at any time," said Adam Jentleson, spokesman for Sen. Reid. "There is nothing stopping the Senate from confirming Lynch and continuing to debate the trafficking bill this week, except Sen. McConnell's unwillingness to bring her nomination up for a vote."

The delay in confirming Lynch is leading to short tempers in some quarters.

"Delay after delay after delay," charged Reid. "And now we're here, in the middle of March, and Loretta Lynch has yet to get a vote on the Senate floor. Why can't we get this incredibly qualified woman confirmed? She's waited 128 days. That's the longest any attorney general nominee has waited in some four decades.

"Any attempt to hold a confirmation vote hostage because of this abortion provision is a sham. Republicans really – on Loretta Lynch – are out of excuses," he continued. "This Congress is barely two months old and yet this is just the latest on a growing list of examples proving Republicans simply can't govern."

Former Justice Department Official Hans von Spakovsky told WND and Radio America that Senate Republicans are finally realizing Loretta Lynch is an unacceptable choice for attorney general, but he isn't sure enough of them will oppose her to prevent her from getting the job.

Lynch, who is currently a federal prosecutor in New York, received generally positive comments from Republicans when she was nominated to replace Eric Holder late last year. Even after confirmation hearings in which she vigorously defended President Obama's unilateral action on immigration, there appeared to be a general consensus that she would be confirmed.

Now, more than two weeks after the Lynch nomination cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee, most Republican senators say they will vote against her. By some head counts, only four Republicans still support her, the bare minimum needed to get confirmed.

The four Republicans plus 46 Democrats would give Lynch 50 votes, and Vice President Joe Biden would then break the tie.

Why are Republicans increasingly sour on Lynch?

Von Spakovsky said her testimony is not wearing well over time.

"The senators have had a chance to really think more carefully about what she said and how dangerous it is to have an attorney general who's unwilling to tell the president when he is going beyond the authority he's got under the law and under the Constitution," he said.

Listen to the WND/Radio America interview with Hans von Spakovsky:

Von Spakovsky served as counsel to the assistant attorney general for civil rights during the early days of the George W. Bush administration. He also served on the Federal Elections Commission.

Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; Orrin Hatch, R-Utah; and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., were the three members of the majority to back her in committee. Von Spakovsky is not optimistic that any of them will join the opposition.

"I think they've come out the way they have because they have this general view that a president has the ability to pick his nominees," he said. "But he doesn't have the ability to pick nominees who aren't going to enforce the law and abide by the rule of law. Frankly, the non-answers she gave indicate that she's going to be just like Eric Holder in helping the president bend, break and change the law whenever he wants to."

Sen. Graham said he is supporting Lynch mainly to get someone else in charge at the Justice Department and end the tenure of Holder. While he agrees with part of that logic, von Spakovsky said that rationale alone is not enough to overshadow the problems with Lynch.

"I certainly agree it's time for a change, but I don't think it's time for a change and putting someone in who is basically going to put in a version of Holder 2.0. I think they ought to instead push the president to put someone ethical and professional in who actually believes in the rule of law," said von Spakovsky, who admitted Obama is unlikely to nominate anyone palatable to most conservatives.

"That's what any reasonable president would do," he said. "I'm not sure he will because he seems to have decided to spend his last two years being as confrontational as possible with Congress as opposed to trying to work with them."

Is McConnell making a shrewd move in refusing to allow a vote on the Lynch nomination so long as Democrats continue to hold up legislation to combat human trafficking? Or is he just playing politics?

"I think that is a fair parliamentary tactic, and I think it is something that is the right thing to do here, where the argument they're having over this debate is Democrats voting against language they previously voted to approve," he said. "That in itself seems unfair and inequitable."

As WND reported, a well-placed source on Capitol Hill told WND there are now rumblings that even some Democratic Party senators may oppose her nomination.

The source also said WND’s revelations about Lynch’s ties to terrorists and drug lords are playing a part in the growing opposition to her confirmation.

WND reported on Friday that her nomination was already in serious jeopardy, with her support dwindling to just 50 senators, the bare minimum needed. Vice President Joe Biden would have to break a 50-to-50 tie in the Senate.

Another well-placed Capitol Hill source told WND it may all come down to whether McCain can persuade his close colleagues in the Senate to vote against Lynch’s confirmation.

WND has chronicled in great detail charges that Lynch, in her capacity as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York in 2012, arranged a mere slap-on-the-wrist settlement with the world’s second-largest bank, HSBC, for laundering billions of dollars for Mexican drug cartels and Middle Eastern terrorists.

Read the explosive backstory inside the HSBC scandal – how WND first exposed the massive money-laundering scheme, the fallout from the eye-popping discovery and the role Loretta Lynch played in “Launder-gate.”