The Daily Beast reports that “Stephen Preston, the current general counsel at the CIA, was nominated in June by President Obama to be the top lawyer at the Defense Department. His selection had generated little controversy, but last week Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO) put a hold on the nomination demanding that Preston answer questions about the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on the CIA’s detention and interrogation program. At issue is whether the report should be declassified and released to the public.”

“Udall, a member of the committee, has been aggressively pushing for the report’s release. Now he’s using the Preston nomination for leverage. “Senator Udall still has some unanswered questions that we’d like Mr. Preston to address,” said Mike Saccone, Udall’s communication’s director.”