Justice Department's Whitaker to appear
before House panel in January
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[December 01, 2018]
By David Morgan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. acting Attorney
General Matthew Whitaker will appear before the House of Representatives
Judiciary Committee in January, when a new Democratic majority expects
to begin ramping up House oversight of the Trump administration.
Two Democratic lawmakers including Representative Jerrold Nadler,
incoming chairman of the House judiciary panel, said in a joint
statement on Friday that Whitaker committed to appear before the
committee during a phone conversation.
Whitaker, whom President Donald Trump appointed without Senate
confirmation this month after ousting Attorney General Jeff Sessions,
has raised alarms among Democrats who fear he could endanger Special
Counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian meddling in the 2016
presidential election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign.
U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly denounced the Mueller
investigation as a "witch hunt" and appealed to then-Attorney General
Sessions to end the probe on Aug 1.
As a Trump loyalist, Democrats say, Whitaker could fire Mueller, starve
the Russia investigation of funding or prevent a special counsel report
from being made public.
But Nadler and Representative Elijah Cummings, incoming chairman of the
House Oversight Committee, said in their statement that Whitaker pledged
to operate according to established Justice Department practice.
"Acting Attorney General Whitaker committed to appear before the House
Judiciary Committee in January at a mutually agreeable date," Nadler and
Cummings said.
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Acting U.S. Attorney General Matthew Whitaker speaks at the Joint
Terrorism Task Force office in New York, New York, U.S., November
21, 2018. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri
"The acting attorney general affirmed that he was and will continue
to follow all of the regulations, policies and procedures of the
Department of Justice, including with regards to the Special Counsel
investigation," they added.
Justice Department officials were not immediately available for
comment.
Democrats and other critics say Whitaker's appointment could
represent an illegal attempt to take oversight of Mueller from
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who had supported the
special counsel after Sessions recused himself from the probe.
The U.S. Constitution requires Senate confirmation for principal
government officers.
Whitaker was also the subject of a 2017 fraud query from the Federal
Trade Commission over his involvement with World Patent Marketing, a
company accused by the government of bilking millions of dollars
from consumers.
(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Leslie Adler and Bill
Berkrot)
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