Senior Homeland Security post nominee denies aiding politically connected technology firm

Source: Washington Post

The Obama administration’s nominee to be deputy homeland security chief on Thursday strongly denied giving improper help to a politically connected technology firm, calling the allegations “unequivocally false.”

Alejandro Mayorkas, a top immigration official, is under scrutiny by the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general for allegations that he improperly intervened to assist an electric-car company seeking U.S. visas for Chinese investors, according to congressional aides and documents.

“I have never in my career used undue influence to influence the outcome of a case,” Mayorkas testified Thursday in front of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which held a hearing on his nomination over the objection of Republicans.

The allegations have complicated the administration’s nomination of Mayorkas to be second-in-command at DHS. They could also pose difficulties for Democratic Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe, who co-founded the electric-car company involved in the case, and for former secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton, whose brother, Anthony Rodham, was involved in lobbying for the visas.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/senate-democrats-defend-mayorkas-nomination-for-senior-dhs-post/2013/07/25/c40bc53c-f522-11e2-9434-60440856fadf_singlePage.html