Dianne Feinstein Ceding 'Power of Attorney' to Daughter Raises Questions

Further questions have been raised as to whether veteran California Senator Dianne Feinstein should remain in office amid reports she is overseeing some of her legal affairs.

Feinstein's daughter, Katherine Feinstein, 66, is said to have been given power of attorney over the Democrat amid an ongoing financial dispute regarding the estate of the 90-year-old's late husband Richard Blum, according to The New York Times.

Katherine Feinstein is only believed to be given the power of control over her mother to deal with the lawsuits and does not have full control of the senator's affairs. Feinstein's office declined to comment on the reports regarding the power attorney when contacted by Newsweek, as it is a private family matter.

However, the reports that Feinstein no longer has her own power of attorney arrive amid long-running calls for her to resign over concerns about her frail health and ability to act in her role.

Feinstein was absent from the Senate for several weeks earlier this year after being hospitalized with shingles, missing dozens of votes and hindering the nomination process of President Joe Biden's judiciary picks in the process. Feinstein also suffered an inflammation of the brain known as encephalitis while recovering from shingles.

When she returned, there were concerns about Feinstein's cognitive abilities and confused state while in the Capitol. Recently, Feinstein had to be told by an aide to "just say aye" when she started delivering a speech instead of voting during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing.

Katherine Feinstein has filed two lawsuits on her mother's behalf in an effort to gain access to Blum's estate. One suit states that Senator Feinstein wishes to sell a beach house near San Francisco owned by Blum that is in disrepair.

The second suit involves allegations involving Blum's life insurance proceeds, which the senator said she needs to pay for her medical expenses. The proceeds are meant to be dispersed through a trust but are allegedly being held back by Blum's trustees: lawyer Michael Klein and Marc Scholvinck, the former chief financial officer of Blum's private equity firm.

In a statement, Steven Braccini, a lawyer for the two trustees, said it has not been made clear to them that Katherine Feinstein is now her mother's power of attorney and questioned "why a sitting United States senator would require someone to have power of attorney over her."

Others, including MAGA and right-wing figures, have raised the question as to whether Feinstein should remain a U.S. senator if she does not have control of her own affairs.

Wendy Patterson, who has more than 62,000 followers on X, formerly Twitter, posted: "Dianne Feinstein gave her daughter durable power of attorney over her and she's still a sitting Senator. Something is very wrong with that."

"Just asking? Feinstein's daughter is power of attorney over ailing Dianne Feinstein, but yet, Feinstein is capable of serving Congress?" another X user wrote.

An X user with the profile name @Magaislife posted: "So senator Diane Feinstein gave power of attorney to her daughter, yet she's staying in the Senate. What?????"

Others have defended the reports that Katherine Feinstein now has power of attorney over the veteran lawmaker.

"Power of Attorney just means if Feinstein can't make health or legal decisions for whatever reason, her daughter can. She's 90 years old, it'd be irresponsible not to have a document on what happens if she is nonresponsive," one social media user posted.

Elsewhere, Braccini denied the accusation that Blum's estate has been withholding funds that Senator Feinstein has requested.

"My clients are perplexed by this filing," Braccini told The New York Times. "Richard Blum's trust has never denied any disbursement to Senator Feinstein, let alone for medical expenses."

Update 08/04/23, 11:52 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.