Let's take a breath about the Whitaker "no recusal" opinion

[EffieBlack]

Whitaker has been overseeing the investigation for the past month and it's been going gangbusters. It doesn't seem, at least so far, that he has been meddling or quashing it. In fact, he's been letting Mueller move forward just as before

Of course, that could always change, but at this point, I'm taking a wait and see attitude.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. It might be that he sees the handwriting on the wall

and wants to stay as far away from the undertow as possible when the whole thing goes down. He doesn't strike me as the sharpest knife in the drawer but he probably understands what an obstruction of justice charge would look like on his resume. His career is toast anyhow, just on account of having agreed to take the job under these circumstances.

[stopbush]

2. The point - at this point - is that the revelations and the anticipated indictments

are much further down the road to tRump’s removal than they were on the day that Sessions resigned. Even if Whitaker wanted to blow up the Mueller investigation he has only two weeks left to do so before Ds take over the House. Doubtful anything will happen on that front. And he can do nothing about the state-level investigations that are popping up all over the place.

[Chakaconcarne]

3. can he rat out to trump what mueller

is up to? cant imagine he could get away with it, but who knows.

[EffieBlack]

4. He can

But life is a lot harder now with Congressional oversight. They can easily haul him up to the Hill, put him under oath and ask him if he leaked to Trump. He can try to claim executive privilege, but if he's obstructing justice, there is no privilege. And while he can still refuse to testify, he'll be looking at a contempt charge from the newly non-lapdog Congress.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. Exactly. I think he is probably treading very carefully right now.

And the new appointee, Barr, is in for some interesting questions, too.

[EffieBlack]

6. What happens when you have absolutely no vetting process whatsoever