Republican opponents of former Senator Chuck Hagel welcomed the decision by the Senate Armed Services Committee last Thursday to postpone the expected panel vote on President Barack Obama’s highly controversial defense secretary nomination after he refused to release additional requested financial information, including details regarding compensation for speeches he delivered since leaving Capitol Hill.

While Hagel has provided some information on his personal finances, he said he could not provide all of what has been requested because it was the property of private organizations that he was not authorized to disclose.

Astonishingly, however, senate sources told Breitbart News exclusively on Thursday that they have been informed that one of the reasons Hagel has refused to release the documents on his sources of foreign funding is that one of the names listed is a group purportedly called “Friends of Hamas."