-9999

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, today, the Senate will vote to confirm Chirstopher Charles Fonzone to serve as Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel, OLC.

After graduating from Cornell University and Harvard Law School, Mr. Fonzone clerked for Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and later Justice Stephen Breyer on the U.S. Supreme Court. Subsequently, Mr. Fonzone held a number of roles in the Obama administration: attorney on the appellate staff in the Civil Division at the Justice Department, special counsel in the Office of the General Counsel at the Department of Defense, attorney-adviser in OLC, special assistant and associate counsel in the White House Counsel's Office and Deputy National Security Council--NSC--Legal Adviser, and deputy assistant and counsel in the White House Counsel's Office and NSC Legal Adviser.

After working in private practice at Sidley Austin for several years, Mr. Fonzone returned to public service as the general counsel for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, ODNI. In this role, Mr. Fonzone provides advice and counsel to the Director of National Intelligence and other senior ODNI leaders on a range of legal issues facing the Agency, including intelligence law, employment matters, administrative matters, and budgetary and fiscal issues.

Mr. Fonzone's demonstrated track record advising the U.S. Government and clients on a range of complex legal issues will serve him well when he is confirmed to lead OLC.

I urge my colleagues to support Mr. Fonzone's nomination.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source