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So Trump has tapped Matthew Whitaker, Jeff Session's Chief of Staff, to be the acting Attorney General until a permanent replacement can be appointed.
It appears that Whitaker will immediately become Robert Mueller's new boss, and has already expressed concern about Mueller coming close to exceeding his mandate.
So the problem here is apparently not the investigation into Russia, but just keeping Mueller from forgetting his limits and keeping him focused on completing that particular task. Hopefully that is agreeable with everyone, but if not, too bad.
With Whitaker as acting attorney general until Trump nominates a replacement, the president appears to have focused on picking someone he believes will exercise more influence over Mueller and the Russia probe.
To be sure, Whitaker wrote in a CNN op-ed shortly before he was hired as Sessions' chief of staff that "Mueller has come up to a red line in the Russia 2016 election-meddling investigation that he is dangerously close to crossing." Whitaker added that his concerns stemmed from reports that the special counsel was probing the Trump Organization's financial records.
"It does not take a lawyer or even a former federal prosecutor like myself to conclude that investigating Donald Trump's finances or his family's finances falls completely outside of the realm of his 2016 campaign and allegations that the campaign coordinated with the Russian government or anyone else," Whitaker wrote. "That goes beyond the scope of the appointment of the special counsel."
Last edited by Spartacus713; 11-07-2018 at 04:21 PM..
In August 2017, Whitaker wrote an article for CNN criticizing Mueller's investigation for exceeding its original mandate. As the Acting Attorney General, Whitaker will presumably take whatever steps are required to correct any overreach that may be ongoing.
CNN has updated and republished this article as of today. Here are a few lines:
When President Donald Trump was asked by The New York Times if special counsel Robert Mueller would be crossing a line if he started investigating the finances of Trump and his family, the President said, "I think that's a violation. Look, this is about Russia."
The President is absolutely correct. Mueller has come up to a red line in the Russia 2016 election-meddling investigation that he is dangerously close to crossing.
{More at the link}
Supposedly Mueller is nearing the end of his investigation anyway. This will encourage him to not lengthen it inappropriately or improperly.
The Dems are apparently becoming hysterical after Session's resignation. They are demanding Whitaker recuse himself, which is of course not going to happen. What this means is that any hope if the Mueller investigation turning into a full-on no-limits witch hunt is over as of today. This will make many on the left very sad, but it is of course the right thing to do.
Top Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and the ranking members on the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees, sounded the alarm after Attorney General Jeff Sessions' abrupt resignation on Wednesday, and demanded that Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker recuse himself from overseeing the inquiry into Russian meddling in the 2016 elections.
“This is a break-the-glass moment," Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said in a statement.
In his new capacity, Whitaker is the head official at the Justice Department, and at least for now, oversees the Mueller probe and the agency's other federal investigations, including the New York prosecutors' look into the finances of Trump and his former aides.
The Dems are apparently becoming hysterical after Session's resignation. They are demanding Whitaker recuse himself, which is of course not going to happen. What this means is that any hope if the Mueller investigation turning into a full-on no-limits witch hunt is over as of today. This will make many on the left very sad, but it is of course the right thing to do.
Since the vast majority of posts in your own thread are yours - I suggest you may be the one becoming hysterical.
Which would fit with comments from Rosenstein who backed Whitaker very explicitly recently. My guess? While working for sessions, and now with the appointment he has met with Sessions, Rosenstein, and Mueller, and been provided with enough evidence to KNOW that this is not a witch hunt.
Once Whitaker knows that.....he also knows he has just hopped on top of the tiger, and grabbed the tail. If he stays on and manages Mueller....almost anything he does will look like obstruction. If he recuses himself then Trump goes nuts. Whitaker has to choose then.....does he want the job so much he will risk prison?
And he doesn't. My bet? He recuses like Sessions, and Trump goes nutso about it. But at the end of the day Whitaker doesn't go to prison.
Rosenstein backing him says to me that this is probably fine.
Since the vast majority of posts in your own thread are yours - I suggest you may be the one becoming hysterical.
I was scrolling and then realized “wait this the same dude?”
Edit button man!
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