Story highlights Brian Benczkowski ran the Trump transition team at the Justice Department

He was grilled for his relationship with Alfa Bank and Attorney General Jeff Sessions

(CNN) President Donald Trump's nominee to head the Justice Department's criminal division told a Senate panel at his confirmation hearing Tuesday that if confirmed he would recuse himself for at least two years from any department matter that overlapped with his previous work as an attorney for the Russian bank Alfa Bank.

"I would be recused from any matter involving Alfa Bank for the first two years of my tenure in the department if I'm fortunate enough to be confirmed," Brian Benczkowski told the Senate judiciary committee. "With respect to this particular matter, this investigation that we conducted for Alfa Bank, if the subject matter of that investigation in some way comes before me in the criminal division at any point in my tenure I want to be clear, I will recuse from that completely."

On Monday, he told senators in a letter obtained by CNN that he specifically disclosed his law firm's representation of Alfa Bank in connection with completing his SF-86 security clearance form.

Questions about the bank's activity first arose last year when a group of computer scientists raised concerns about internet records that showed that Alfa Bank servers repeatedly looked up the unique internet address of a Trump Organization computer server in the United States.

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