Matthew Whitaker has called for Robert Mueller to limit his investigation into 2016 election interference.
C ongressional Democrats pushed back on President Donald Trump’sick for acting attorney general in the wake of Jeff Sessions’ departure on Wednesday, pointing to his prior statements related to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Matthew Whitaker, the man who will assume oversight of the investigation in Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s stead, has previously advocated for limiting the scope of Mueller’s investigation and has suggested in the past that Sessions’ inevitable successor could cut off funding to the special counsel’s operation, grinding his work to a halt.
“It is time for Rosenstein, who is the acting attorney general for the purposes of this investigation, to order Mueller to limit the scope of his investigation to the four corners of the order appointing him special counsel,” Whitaker wrote in an opinion piece on CNN.com in August 2017, arguing that Trump’s finances should be out of bounds.
Democrats had been preparing to exercise their newly gained investigatory powers after retaking the House during Tuesday’s midterm elections; Sessions’ resignation, offered at Trump’s request, appears to have captured their immediate attention.
Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Oversight committee, wrote in a statement that there are “many, many reasons” to remove Sessions, “but one reason that is not acceptable is to interfere with or obstruct the Mueller investigation.”
“Congress must now investigate the real reason for this termination, confirm that Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker is recused from all aspects of the Special Counsel’s probe, and ensure that the Department of Justice safeguards the integrity of the Mueller investigation,” he continued.
And Democrat Jerrold Nadler also alluded to potential action from the House Judiciary committee, which he will likely lead come January. In a tweet, Nadler demanded answers related to questions such as the timing of Sessions’ departure. “We will be holding people accountable,” he wrote.
Whitaker was Sessions’ chief of staff at the Justice Department. Trump announced that he would replace Sessions as acting attorney general in a tweet Wednesday afternoon.
Trump’s feud with Sessions — one of the president’s earliest supporters in Congress during the presidential race — began when the former Alabama senator recused himself from matters related to Russia and the Trump campaign after it was revealed, contrary to his testimony during his confirmation process, that Sessions had twice met with the Russian ambassador during 2016.
Trump has fumed about the recusal ever since, constantly bashing Sessions on Twitter. He even criticized Sessions on account of the Justice Department bringing charges against two House Republicans—who were, coincidentally, the first two members of Congress to endorse Trump—for campaign finance violations and insider trading, which Trump said would hurt his party at the polls. “Good job, Jeff,” the president wrote with apparent sarcasm.
Trump also is clear in his desire for Mueller’s investigation to end, having labeled it repeatedly as a “rigged witch hunt.”
Republicans in the Senate previously warned Trump against going after Sessions, with South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham pledging in 2017 that there would be “holy hell to pay” if a firing took place.
On Wednesday, Graham was more accepting.
“I look forward to working with President [Trump] to find a confirmable, worthy successor so that we can start a new chapter at the Department of Justice and deal with both the opportunities and challenges our nation faces,” he wrote .
