Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) pressed Judiciary Committee witness Jonathan Turley on how much he is paid and whether he was paid for his testimony during the second day of hearing on Attorney General nominee Loretta Lynch.
Turley, a constitutional law professor at George Washington University and the attorney for the House of Representative’s lawsuit challenging the Obama administration’s changes to Obamacare, stressed he was not paid for his testimony.
A Senate GOP aide, however, expressed dismay that a former chairman of the committee would ask about payment for testimony.
“Leahy was chairman of the committee until his party got shellacked last November. Surely he knows he can’t get paid for testimony before Congress,” the aide emailed Breitbart News. “Stooping to that level is beneath the dignity of a sitting senator.”
Nevertheless, Leahy was focused on Turley’s paycheck.
“The House Republicans have hired you to sue the administration in another area and taxpayers will pay your fee. They say that this could cost as much as $3 million. They’re not paying you $3 million, are they?” Leahy asked.
Turley laughed and responded that “I’m certainly open to that, Sen. Leahy, but, no, no one’s offered me $3 million.”
The constitutional lawyer said that he believes the contract set the hourly rate at $500 and noted that he is working for the House of Representatives, which voted to authorize the lawsuit, not just the House Republicans.
“Republican vote. It was a partisan vote, you know. Not to put too, spend too closely — Do you get paid for your testimony here today?” Leahy asked.
“Oh, no, of course not,” Turley responded
“Thank you. I thought I’d ask that out of fairness to you,” Leahy added.
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