Whitaker: I have 'not interfered' with Mueller investigation
- by Mandy Simon
- in World
- — Feb 9, 2019
Congressman Jerry Nadler clashed with President Trump's acting Attorney General, Matthew Whitaker, at a contentious House Judiciary Committee hearing on Friday, as House Democrats sought to push Whitaker on his role in overseeing the Mueller investigation.
The Acting Attorney General, who noted that he was at the hearing voluntarily, calmly told Nadler: "Mr. Chairman, I see that your five minutes is up".
Whitaker said he is ultimately in charge of the Mueller investigation, though he'll likely only be in the job for another week.
The committee chairman, Representative Jerrold Nadler of NY, said in a tweet on Thursday night that Whitaker "will appear tomorrow morning at 9:30 a.m".
Concerns lingered among Democratic lawmakers whether Whitaker, a previously outspoken critic of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, hindered the probe or discussed it with the president. But when Jordan asked him whether specific names were in the document - which Jordan charged would go against Justice Department policy - Whitaker demurred. When they did ask questions about the investigation, Republicans asked whether it had strayed from the pursuit of possible crimes to targeting individuals, and whether key Justice Department officials were biased in the investigation.
Eric Swalwell, Democrat from California who has been mulling over a 2020 presidential run, said he would not take Whitaker at his word until he had corroborating testimony from other witnesses. "Maybe", Nadler said when asked by reporters if the committee would want to question McGahn.
Nadler will ask Whitaker to return at a later, undecided date to answer further questions, threatening to "use a subpoena if we have to". That's at least in part because his stewardship began in November with Jeff Sessions' resignation and could end next week if the Senate confirms William Barr to the post.
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Democrats were often frustrated with his refusal to answer his questions, particularly after he discussed in an exchange with Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA), the case against Roger Stone.
There was some curious timing regarding a letter from Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker to the House Judiciary Committee.
"I have no reason to believe he's not honest, so yes I do believe he's honest", Whitaker said.
"Answer the question please", Nadler replied.
Whitaker and Nadler have been at odds all week over Nadler's desire to get him to answer certain questions about his White House communications regarding Mueller and other DOJ probes linked to President Trump.
Acting U.S. Attorney General Matthew Whitaker testifies before a House Judiciary Committee hearing on oversight of the Justice Department on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., February 8, 2019. Whitaker on Friday declined to answer many of those questions - claiming he was reserving the right of Trump to invoke executive privilege, something the President hasn't formally done yet. But Whitaker has not appeared to take any actions with regard to the Mueller investigation, and he's left the day-to-day supervision to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who was supervising the probe when Sessions was attorney general and recused himself. House Democrats also berated Whitaker on the administration's immigration policy and about family separations at the border. Whitaker responded by saying that he would not come unless the committee dropped its subpoena threat, which he called an act of "political theater".
As IJR Red reported, Collins called the hearing "pointless" and a "character assassination".
