Whitaker will consult with ethics officials over recusal

[ffr]

Source: Washington Post



Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker will consult with Justice Department ethics officials about “matters that may warrant recusal” amid pressure from Democrats to step aside from overseeing the special counsel’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Whitaker is “fully committed to following all appropriate processes and procedures,” including consulting with senior ethics officials about his “oversight responsibilities and matter that may warrant recusal,” Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said in a statement Monday.

Since his appointment last week, Whitaker has faced mounting pressure to step aside from overseeing Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, due to critical comments Whitaker made about the investigation before joining the Justice Department last year.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/whitaker-will-consult-with-ethics-officials-over-recusal/2018/11/12/030ec0d0-e6e1-11e8-8449-1ff263609a31_story.html?utm_term=.f73e0f044f79

[stopbush]

1. They need to tell him to resign.

[demsocialist]

2. From what I have been reading....

There are so many reasons that this schmuck can't supervise the Mueller investigation.

My Justice Department colleagues and I, along with a bipartisan group on Capitol Hill, worked through many possible scenarios before we settled on the rules that now govern Mueller’s investigation. Everyone in the debate recognized that any enhancement in the special counsel’s accountability had to come from additional supervision by the attorney general. After all, the power to supervise is the power to destroy. The attorney general can stop a special counsel from investigating altogether or stop them from taking a specific step (such as subpoenaing a president). He can read every file of the counsel, and he may even attempt to give information about the investigation to the president in real time. And he plays a crucial role in determining what report by Mueller, if any, is given to Congress and ultimately the public.

But no one — and I mean no one — ever thought the regulations we wrote would permit the president to install some staff member of his choice from the Justice Department to serve as acting attorney general and thereby oversee the special counsel. Such a proposal would have been laughed off Capitol Hill within a nanosecond as fundamentally at odds with the most cardinal principle that no one is above the law.

https://www.emptywheel.net/2018/11/12/neal-katyal-helps-mueller-write-mondays-brief/

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

3. Whittaker may recuse himself from Mueller's investigation. Trump reacts:

[orangecrush]

4. Covering his ass.

Same as Sessions.

[agingdem]

5. Walter Shaub

quit at ethics chief and was replaced by a Trump lackey intent on rolling back restrictions...so this is Whitaker looking in the mirror and asking if he, a trump ass-kissing under qualified mole with no top level clearance, should recuse himself...and the answer is...?!

[thesquanderer]

11. Whitaker is actually in the catbird's seat.

If he were to recuse himself, what happens? Even Trump could not get away with firing Sessions' replacement for having recused himself. At least not right away. It took Trump 20 months to fire Sessions, and firing Whitaker after he recused himself would look even worse.

Whitaker also has no further need to suck up to Trump. He's already got the very highest position he could possibly have, there's nothing else Trump can do for him (at least politically).

His best move right now--to assure himself a strong future personally and to not be maligned in history--might actually be to try to truly do his job properly, wherever that leads.

[0rganism]

15. i'm a little surprised they re-staffed the position at all

there's little in life less useful to Trump than ethical standards

[agingdem]

16. all depends who the new guy is..

good chance he's as ethically-challenged as the douche bag in the White House then he's a useful rubber stamp

[Scarsdale]

6. Could this be the reason

tRump was so upset this weekend? The end is near, and all his dirty tricks can not save his flabby, orange arse.

[lilactime]

7. And they won't tell him anything he won't want to hear.

[duforsure]

8. It doesn't matter anyway

As trump's move was unconstitutional in the first place. People really believe a trump appointed ethics official will be ethical? LOL!

[watoos]

9. So what?

He will be given enough wiggle room to not have to recuse himself. Trump didn't fire Sessions to end up with Sessions 2.0.

[Iliyah]

10. smoke and mirrors

[lark]

12. Fake ethics people.

If they had real ethics, there'd be a ton of drumpf appointees and drumpf himself would have been held accountable. drumpf fired the real Ethics Professionals and installed minions who will protect him so of course they'll say no recusal is necessary or they will be fired and someone else hired who is more of a sycophant.

[smb]

13. This Could Get Interesting

There's a distinct possibility that the Ethics Office will tell him "if you interfere with the investigation, you're probably going down for obstruction of justice". That could lead him to recuse himself to cover his own ass, followed by an epic outburst of explosive Twitterrhea and Beelzebub knows what else from Cheetolini.

[ffr]

14. Absolutely. You have to wonder how such a rabid dog could heal so quickly.

It could be he's all bark and no bite. Or it could be he saw or was briefed and it scared the living daylights out of him.