The Justice Department on Wednesday released a memo that called President Trump’s appointment of loyalist Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general legal — rejecting charges…
The Justice Department on Wednesday released a memo that called President Trump’s appointment of loyalist Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general legal — rejecting charges that the move violated the Constitution.
Since Trump named him to replace Jeff Sessions last week, legal experts — including George Conway, husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway — argued that the appointment was illegal because Whitaker had not been confirmed by the Senate.
But the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel said in a 20-page memo that past practice, court rulings and legal analysis all showed the Whitaker appointment was legal, the Washington Post reported .
The memo said the appointment was in line with the 1998 Federal Vacancies Reform Act.
Maryland Democratic Attorney General Brian Frosh asked a federal judge to block Whitaker from serving as acting attorney general, arguing that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein should instead take on the role.
Trump fired Sessions the day after the GOP lost the House in the midterm elections and replaced him with Whitaker, who had been Sessions’ chief of staff and a fierce critic of special counsel Robert Mueller and the Russia investigation.
Whitaker, a former federal prosecutor in Iowa, also made disparaging remarks about Supreme Court precedents, and was leery of “secular” judicial candidates, saying he preferred those who based their legal positions on the New Testament.
Critics charged that Trump tabbed Whitaker because of his anti-Mueller views, predicting he would try to impede the special counsel’s probe, which has already netted guilty pleas from several Trump insiders and the indictments of dozens, including Russian spies.
“As all three branches of government have long recognized, the president may designate an acting official to perform the duties of a vacant principal office, including a Cabinet office, even when the acting official has not been confirmed by the Senate,” the memo obtained by the paper said.
The matter will likely wind up in court.
Meanwhile, lame-duck GOP Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona said last Thursday that he and Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Maryland would introduce legislation to protect Mueller.
