Democrats urge acting attorney general to
step aside from Russia probe
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[November 12, 2018]
By Sarah N. Lynch and David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top Democrats
stepped up pressure Sunday on acting U.S. Attorney General Matthew
Whitaker to step aside from overseeing a special counsel probe into
Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, vowing to order
him to testify early next year.
Representative Jerrold Nadler, the expected incoming chairman of the
House Judiciary Committee, said Sunday the committee plans to subpoena
Whitaker to testify next year as its first witness.
"He should recuse himself. He has expressed total hostility to the
investigation," Nadler said on the ABC News show "This Week." "His
appointment is simply part of an attack on the investigation by Robert
Mueller."
In a letter to the Justice Department's chief ethics officer, Senate
Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi
and other top Democrats asked whether any ethics attorneys at the
Justice Department have advised Whitaker to recuse himself and demanded
details on any ethics guidance Whitaker has received.
"Allowing a vocal opponent of the investigation to oversee it will
severely undermine public confidence in the Justice Department’s work on
this critically important matter," the letter said.
Democrats have increasingly expressed alarm since last week, when
President Donald Trump ordered Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign
and replaced him with Whitaker, Sessions' chief of staff.
Sessions' ouster paved the way for Whitaker to take over oversight of
Mueller's investigation from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who
appointed Mueller in May 2017 after Sessions recused himself from the
probe.
Prior to working at the Justice Department, Whitaker made multiple
negative comments about the Mueller investigation and its scope.
In addition, Whitaker is also a close friend of Trump's 2016 election
campaign co-chair Sam Clovis, who has since become a witness in
Mueller's investigation.
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Acting U.S. Attorney General Matthew Whitaker is pictured in an
undated photo obtained by Reuters November 8, 2018. Courtesy U.S.
Department of Justice/via REUTERS/File Photo
"Mr. Whitaker’s relationship with Mr. Clovis, who is a grand jury
witness in the special counsel investigation, as well as Mr.
Whitaker’s other entanglements, raise additional concerns about his
ability to supervise the investigation independently and
impartially," the letter said.
Kellyanne Conway, a counselor to Trump, defended Whitaker's
oversight of the probe when asked about it on ABC's "This Week."
"Comments that Matt Whitaker made as a private citizen on cable TV
does not disqualify him from being fair and impartial by overseeing
this investigation."
She added that Trump is "100 percent behind Matt Whitaker."
(Reporting by David Shepardson and Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Lisa
Shumaker and Andrea Ricci)
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