Dems put hold on McFarland nomination over contradictory testimony: report

Senate Democrats have put a hold on the nomination of former deputy national security adviser K.T. McFarland to be the U.S. ambassador to Singapore after leaked emails contradicted written testimony she provided to the Senate, CNN reported Tuesday.

“I think there should be no action on this nomination until we get the information,” Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told CNN.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) had asked McFarland in July about former national security adviser Michael Flynn’s contact with then-Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. She responded by saying that she was “not aware of any of the issues or events” mentioned in the questions.

{mosads}But leaked emails reported on by The New York Times revealed that she was aware of a phone call between Flynn and Kislyak, which took place during the presidential transition.

The revelation has put McFarland’s nomination in jeopardy. Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said earlier Tuesday that her “nomination is frozen for a while until that gets worked out.”

“She has to know that herself, and we’ll deal with it at the appropriate time,” Corker said.

Flynn pleaded guilty last week to lying to the FBI about his contact with Russian officials, and is now working with special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe.