“There is at the very least an appearance of conflict of interest since he owes his job as attorney general to the same boss who has nominated these other Cabinet nominees,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said. | Getty Dems demand Sessions recuse himself on confirmation votes

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) may soon find himself in an unprecedented position: Voting to confirm key members of the new administration while waiting for his own promotion to the Cabinet.

Democrats are demanding that Sessions, Donald Trump’s pick to serve as attorney general, abstain from confirmation votes as long as he remains in the Senate — arguing that he shouldn’t be voting for Cabinet officials he will have to oversee as the nation’s top law enforcement official.


But the Alabama senator has said only that he would recuse from voting on his own confirmation as attorney general, prompting Democrats to ramp up pressure on something they believe is a prime conflict-of-interest issue.

“There is at the very least an appearance of conflict of interest since he owes his job as attorney general to the same boss who has nominated these other Cabinet nominees,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said in an interview Monday. “The attorney general has to be an independent voice and prosecutor. He may be called upon to investigate, perhaps represent them in court. He ought to be strictly impartial.”

If Sessions does end up voting on other Trump picks, it would be unprecedented: there is no example of a sitting senator who’s been nominated for the Cabinet participating in a roll call vote on another Cabinet-level nomination, according to information from the Senate Historical Office.

And when two lower-level nominations came to the Senate floor after then-Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) was nominated as secretary of state in December 2012, Kerry did not vote on either of them, according to Senate voting records.

From the Democrats’ view, the strategy is two-fold: If Sessions does vote, they can launch a new ethics-oriented attack at another member of Trump’s Cabinet by raising conflict-of-interest concerns. But if Sessions does acquiesce to their demands, that would deny Republicans a reliable GOP vote on controversial nominees, such as secretary of state pick Rex Tillerson, who may already face narrow margins of error.

For weeks, Blumenthal, in an effort blessed by Democratic leadership, has pressed Sessions through a letter and in a private meeting to recuse himself from confirmation votes. But the push took on new relevance last week when Sessions said he would not vote for himself, while declining to say whether he would vote on other nominations.

“I do not have plans on to vote on my nomination,” Sessions said in response to Blumenthal at his hearing last week before the Judiciary Committee. “I have not thoroughly examined all the issues, but I think there could be a conflict of interest or a violation of ethics rules and I would comply with the rules.”

A Sessions spokeswoman declined to respond to questions on whether he would vote for other nominees.

Senate Republican leaders haven’t gotten any indication whether Sessions will recuse from voting, but they see it as a non-issue.

“My view is, as long as he hadn’t been confirmed as [attorney general], he’s still a U.S. senator with all the rights and privileges that pertain to that,” Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) said. “But that’s a personal choice that he’ll have to make.”

Because of Judiciary Committee rules, Sessions has to wait longer than other Cabinet picks until his nomination can come to the floor. The panel is scheduled to take up his nomination on Jan. 24, but any one senator can ask for committee business, like a nomination, to be held over one week.

So that means several Cabinet nominees will come to the floor well before Sessions’ nomination as attorney general. Senate GOP leaders are eyeing confirmation votes for at least four Cabinet officials on Friday after Trump is inaugurated: John Kelly for Homeland Security secretary, Elaine Chao for Transportation secretary, retired Gen. James Mattis to lead the Pentagon and Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) for CIA director. It appears likely that at least some of the early confirmations will need roll call votes.

Delaware Sen. Chris Coons, another Democratic member of the Judiciary Committee, rattled off a litany of reasons why he felt Sessions should not be voting on other Cabinet nominees.

“Given that Sen. Sessions endorsed President-elect Trump, campaigned vigorously and nationally, and presents as probably the Cabinet nominee most closely aligned with President-elect Trump … and given the number of ethical concerns that have already been raised about the Trump Cabinet, I think it would reflect well on both Sen. Sessions and the Trump administration were he to recuse himself,” Coons said.

Blumenthal said he plans to raise the issue again in written questions — known formally as “questions for the record” — that members of the Senate Judiciary Committee submit to Sessions about his nomination.

Sessions still sits on key committees that will be home to contentious nomination fights, both with a one-seat GOP majority: the Environmental and Public Works committee, which oversees the nomination of Scott Pruitt to lead the Environmental Protection Agency; and the Budget Committee, which will handle Rep. Mick Mulvaney’s nomination as director of the Office of Management and Budget.

“I assume there’s going to be a member placed on the committee as soon as Jeff Sessions leaves to become attorney general,” Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), who chairs the Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee, told reporters on Monday. “We would have a full complement of 11 Republican senators for a vote on confirmation.”

Sessions has also retained his seat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, but Mattis is expected to get bipartisan backing both in committee and for the floor vote. And still other Democrats see no problem with Sessions voting on other nominees while waiting for his own elevation to the Cabinet.

“Why wouldn’t he?” said Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the second-ranking Senate Democrat. “He is still the senator from Alabama.”

Alex Guillen contributed to this report.