Justice Department antitrust nominee Makan Delrahim's hearing delayed

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The confirmation testimony expected on Wednesday for Makan Delrahim, who was nominated to head U.S. Justice Department's Antitrust Division, has been delayed by missing paperwork, Senator Charles Grassley said in a hearing.

Delrahim is a member of President Donald Trump's transition team.

"I’m disappointed we couldn’t go forward with Mr. Delrahim’s hearing this morning. We are still waiting on one piece of paperwork, which we understood we’d have by now. And I imagine that will be transmitted to us within another day or two, and we look forward to including him on our next hearing," Grassley told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Grassley, an Iowa Republican who chairs the committee, did not say which paperwork was missing.

Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, called the missing document a "snag."

Delrahim was expected to move to the Justice Department after finishing up in the White House counsel's office, where he worked to steer Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch through the Senate confirmation process.

The Senate must vote to confirm Delrahim.

As the proposed chief of the Antitrust Division, Delrahim would review corporate mergers at a time when many investors and corporate executives are anticipating a more relaxed view of deal-making. Former President Barack Obama's administration faced a large number of megadeals in what one enforcer called a "merger tsunami" and blocked many of them.

Before going to work at the White House after Trump's inauguration in January, Delrahim was a lobbyist with the law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP.

One client in 2016 was health insurer Anthem Inc, which this year lost a court fight with the Justice Department over whether it would be allowed to merge with Cigna. Anthem has appealed the loss.

(Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Bernard Orr)