John Sarbanes: “Well, what rationale is advanced, if any, for this backhanded treatment of the institutions of the Senate, these two…”

“Well, what rationale is advanced, if any, for this backhanded treatment of the institutions of the Senate, these two important committees, the Intelligence Committee and the Foreign Relations Committee, both of which are trying to conduct due diligence on this nominee? I might say to my colleague, I remember when we held the nomination hearings for John Negroponte and Richard Holbrooke. That investigation went over an extended period of time and probed very deeply. The end result, of course, was that questions that had been raised were answered satisfactorily, and the body was able to come to a consensus about those nominees. I cannot think of a rationale that can be offered that would warrant a withholding of this information.”