Benczkowski served as Jeff Sessions’s lead staffer while he was the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and worked in previous administrations as chief of staff for the attorney general and deputy attorney general. Just prior to his nomination to head the criminal division, Benczkowski worked on white-collar criminal-defense cases at Kirkland & Ellis. But the fact that he has never been a prosecutor has raised questions about his qualifications to oversee the government’s criminal investigations, including the probe by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

Benczkowski’s confirmation at the height of Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s election interference—and potential coordination between the Trump campaign and Moscow—has exacerbated fears among Democrats that the probe will be inappropriately influenced, and that Benczkowski could funnel information about the Russia probe to Attorney General Sessions, who is recused from that investigation. The biggest outstanding issues raised by the Democrats: whether Alfa Bank is, or has ever been, the subject of a federal criminal investigation into which Benczkowski would have visibility; whether he will pledge to recuse himself from all matters related to Alfa Bank’s parent company, Alfa Group; and whether he will recuse himself from all matters related to the special counsel’s investigation.

Durbin, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, sent Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein a letter in September 2017 raising concerns over Benczkowski’s nomination and asking whether Alfa Bank is currently under investigation. The Justice Department wouldn’t tell him.

“For weeks, I have been seeking answers to two critical questions so that the committee can fairly assess Mr. Benczkowski’s representation of Alfa Bank,” Durbin wrote. “First, is Alfa Bank currently, or has Alfa Bank ever been, the subject of a federal criminal investigation? And second, what is the intelligence community’s assessment of the reported computer server contacts between Alfa Bank and the Trump Organization during the 2016 campaign?”

In a written response two weeks later, Rosenstein declined to confirm or deny whether Alfa is currently under investigation, citing DOJ policy and Benczkowski’s “inescapable recusal” from any investigation of Alfa Bank. He had been nominated by Trump in June 2017 to head the criminal division and had himself made that recusal commitment during his confirmation hearing the following month. He said he had been courted to represent Alfa Bank in late 2016 not because of his work for the Trump transition team, but because of his “expertise in conducting internal investigations for corporate clients utilizing the services of a third-party expert.”

“To be clear,” he said, “I did not learn anything during my time on the Trump transition regarding Alfa Bank.” As Alfa’s attorney, he brought in a digital firm, Stroz Friedberg, to examine the computer traffic between the bank and the Trump Organization. He ultimately said the review found no link.