Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker can expect an invitation to testify before the House Judiciary Committee early next year, a Democratic lawmaker on the panel tells Hill.TV.
“We will be having Matt Whitaker in, I think, as one of our first moves in the majority,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said in an interview Thursday.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), the ranking member and likely next chairman of the Judiciary Committee, has previously made similar comments.
Jayapal made the statement shortly after reports indicated that Whitaker would be required to recuse himself from overseeing Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian election interference, despite his previous criticism of the same investigation.
“I think we have serious concerns about conflicts of interest, things that he’s said in the past that clearly raise issues about whether he can supervise an investigation that he never believed in to start with,” Jayapal explained.
But several GOP lawmakers said that Whitaker should not recuse himself from overseeing the Russia investigation and pointed to the challenges that posed when former Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the probe. President Trump frequently criticized Sessions for the decision.
“It’s the president’s choice to put [Whitaker] in that position and I think we saw what happened last time when there was recusal – it kind of threw things into disarray – and kind of got us to the point where we are now with regard to the Russia collusion investigation,” GOP Rep. Rick Crawford (Ark.) told Hill.TV.
Iowa Rep. Steve King (R), who called Whitaker a “stellar” person who he has “known for a long time,” praised the ethics office advisory.
“Matt Whitaker doesn’t have any reason to recuse himself other than he’s criticized by a handful of Democrats – that’s for political reasons not for legal reasons – and Matt Whitaker will see that clearly,” King said.
For his part, King believes that the investigation “is tearing America apart” and looks “strung out and time for it to end.”
Asked if Whitaker has the authority to put a “date certain” by which the inquiry should end, King acknowledged “I think he has the authority to do that – I don’t know if it’s politically the right thing for him to do that and it’s more of a political question than it is a legal one.”
“I’ve not talked to him about that and I’m not suggesting one way or the other – that’s something [Whitaker] would have to decide,” King added.
— Molly K. Hooper
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