Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker came into his White House office dragging a whole long string of legal issues behind him. Before arriving in the president’s sphere, he went on television to promote the same negative line that Donald Trump offered against Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. Naturally, the president who watches television up to eight hours a day saw him. POTUS plucked Whitaker out of mediocrity and plunked him down as Jeff Session’s chief of staff and mole for the president. Now that the Democrats are in power, it is time for Whitaker to pay up.
House Judiciary Committee chair, Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) sent the acting AG a letter inviting him to come testify before the committee. Whitaker said sure, under these conditions, according to producer for MSNBC’s The Last Word, Kyle Griffin:
‘…on February 12, 2019 or February 13, 2019 so long as the Department (DOJ) is at least two weeks removed from a partial government shutdown.’
The House Committee of the Judiciary said no to Whitaker’s suggestion. Nadler wrote:
‘We are willing to work with you to identify a mutual identifiable date for your testimony, but we will not allow that date to slip past January 29, 2019.’
Griffin tweeted Nadler’s entire letter:
Nadler and the rest of the committee have a whole host of topics for Whitaker to discuss. Those included legislation involving the Department of Justice that addresses
‘…voting rights, immigration, gun violence, the Violence Against Women Act, and foreign influence on the federal government.” several recent efforts by the Administration that could have the effect of weakening federal protections for civil rights.’
Also, Nadler and the committee have said they will:
‘…discuss the impact of (the) President’s near-daily statements attacking the integrity of the Department of Justice, the FBI, and Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.’
Nadler’s letter addressed a phone call with Whitaker in November. At that point in time, the acting AG had no problem with testifying. The chair also said the Office of Legal Counsel decided in 1995 that the Department of Justice (DOJ) in can keep working during a partial shutdown:
‘…providing testimony at hearings if the Department’s participation is necessary for the hearing to be effective.’
Nadler will subpoena Matthew Whitaker to testify if necessary, because his testimony is so terribly important. The chair continued:
‘…some of the most critical questions my colleagues may ask concern the impact of the shutdown on Department operations and personnel.’
The committee tasked about providing oversight to the Department of Justice and set the Whitaker hearing for January 29. Coincidentally or not, that was the same date of Trump’s State of the Union address. Why would Nadler do that? It guaranteed that Whitaker will be in D.C.
Former FBI direction James Comey had a few words to say about Whitaker. He called the man not “the sharpest knife in the drawer,” according to POLITICO:
‘He may not be the sharpest knife in our drawer, but he can see his future and knows that if he acted in an extralegal way, he would go down in history for the wrong reasons. I’m sure he doesn’t want that.’
Featured image is a screenshot via YouTube.
