Kirkland & Ellis partner Brian Benczkowski told a group of senators Tuesday that if he could go back in time, he wouldn’t have taken on a Russian bank as a client.
Benczkowski is President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. He faced little scrutiny until Monday, largely due to his experience in various leadership positions at the DOJ under President George W. Bush and bipartisan support. But news reports Monday revealed Benczkowski represented a Russian bank this past spring that was reportedly under investigation by the FBI for potential connections between its computer servers and Trump’s presidential campaign. Benczkowski and Kirkland’s work for Alfa-Bank thus became the focus of Tuesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.
