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Inscrit le: 27 Sep 2011
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Localisation: England
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 Posté le: Jeu Aoû 08, 2013 7:00 am Sujet du message: \keywords4.txt |
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Homeland security deputy nominee says he didn’t give Terry McAuliffe special treatment
Mayorkas, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration #file_links[D:\keywords4.txt,motorcycle exhaust,1,S] Services (USCIS),motorcycle mufflers, is under scrutiny by the department’s inspector general over allegations that he mismanaged a visa program for foreign investors used by McAuliffe’s c #file_links[D:\keywords5.txt,1,S] ar firm, GreenTech, according to congressional aides and documents.“I was asked to attend a meeting with Mr. McAuliffe so that I could hear in person his complaints. . . . I heard those complaints, and that was the extent of the interaction,” Mayorkas said.McAuliffe, the former Democratic National Committee chairman, is the party’s nominee in the high-profile race for Virginia governor, and the visa issue has seeped into the contest. The campai #file_links[D:\keywords1.txt,1,S] gn of McAuliffe’s GOP opponent, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II, has sought to portray McAuliffe as not “capable of telling the truth.”The IG investigation has also complicated Mayorkas’s path to confirmation as deputy secretary of Homeland Security. Republicans, who want the nomination delayed, boycotted Thursday’s hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Gov #file_links[D:\keywords3.txt,1,S] ernmental Affairs Committee.“I have never in my career used undue influence to influence the outcome of a case,” Mayorkas told the committee. Mayorkas testified that he met with McAuliffe roughly two years ago about the visa program. He said such meetings were common and he considered them part of his job.He added that being “accused of tipping the scales” in favor of Gulf Coast Funds Management — the Anthony Rodham firm that processes GreenTech’s visas — after “referring the matter to the Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate for appropriate action based upon a question of . . . the project’s integrity seems a bit contradictory.”The fraud directorate, set up by Mayorkas, reviews “background check information and other concerns that surface” in the course of considering immigration applications.Earlier this week, McAuliffe spokesman Josh Schwerin said the inspector general’s probe “does not involve Terry.” On Thursday, Schwerin described the meeting as a routine effort by McAuliffe to help his business.“Terry, like many business and political officials from both parties, was frustrated with the bureaucratic pace of the investment program,” Schwerin said. “As was made clear today, there has been widespread frustration inside and outside USCIS about the bureaucracy there, and Terry was among those who expressed frustration with that bureaucracy.” Schwerin said McAuliffe was unaware that Mayorkas was the subject of any investigation until news reports this week.Republicans, led by Sen. Tom Coburn (Okla.), had called on Democrats to del #file_links[D:\keywords2.txt,1,S] ay Thursday’s hearing. Coburn said it was likely unprecedented for a committee to hold a hearing over the objections of the minority and “in light of an active investigation into serious, relevant allegations of professional misconduct by the nominee.” |
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