POST-MIDTERM elections, President Donald Trump finally forced Attorney General (AG) Jeff Sessions to resign, and at the heart of this was Sessions’s recusing himself from the Russia probe because of conflict of interest.
Trump had repeatedly lashed out at Sessions, saying had he known Sessions would do so, he wouldn’t have appointed him for this top Justice Department post.
The president then appointed Matthew Whitaker, the chief of staff of Sessions, to be acting AG. This appointment bypassed the line of succession statute which mandates that should there be a vacancy, the Deputy Attorney General should replace the AG, and that official is Rod Rosenstein.
Rosenstein became the acting AG, overseeing the Russia probe when Sessions recused himself, and was instrumental in appointing Special Counsel Robert Mueller to head the investigation in the alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia to interfere and influence the 2016 presidential election.
Trump has been undermining the Russia probe, calling it a “witch hunt”, and has now picked Whitaker to be acting AG who will now oversee the Mueller probe, instead of Rosenstein.
The problem with Whitaker is that he has made public statements in the past discrediting the Mueller probe, and has expressed that the DOJ should limit the scope of the probe and slash its budget to cripple the full investigation wherever the facts and evidence take it.
Republican and Democratic senators filed a motion to protect Mueller from being fired, yet Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to subject the motion to a vote.
Now, a group of Senate Democrats filed a lawsuit that seeks a court order preventing Whitaker from continuing to serve as the acting attorney general. This complaint joins other legal challenges and is the first that squarely addresses Whitaker’s appointment.
The lawsuit filed by U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal, Sheldon Whitehouse and Mazie Hirono — all members of the Senate Judiciary Committee — contend that Whitaker was ineligible to step in as the interim attorney general because his past role as a Sessions aide did not require Senate confirmation.
Senator Blumenthal tweeted on Monday, November 19, “Americans prize checks and balances. Trump’s dictatorial appointment of Whitaker denies Senators from completing our constitutional obligation to scrutinize the nomination of our top law enforcement official. We are left with no choice but to seek recourse through the courts.”
The Senate Democrats sue Trump to challenge the constitutionality of Trump’s appointment of Whitaker as the acting AG on November 7.
According to the complaint, “the Constitution’s Appointments Clause requires that the Senate confirm high-level federal government officials, including the Attorney General, before they exercise the duties of the office”.
As the National Law Journal reported, “The lawsuit highlighted Whitaker’s past involvement as an adviser to a company that shut down after being accused by the Federal Trade Commission of bilking consumers out of $26 million. Critics also contend Whitaker is predisposed, based on media appearances and written comments, to curtail Special Counsel Robert Mueller III’s ongoing investigation of Donald Trump’s campaign ties to Russia.”
The DOJ defended the appointment of Whitaker in a statement: “President Trump’s designation of Matt Whitaker as Acting Attorney General of the United States is lawful and comports with the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution, Supreme Court precedent, past Department of Justice opinions, and actions of U.S. Presidents, both Republican and Democrat. There are over 160 instances in American history in which non-Senate confirmed persons performed, on a temporary basis, the duties of a Senate-confirmed position. To suggest otherwise is to ignore centuries of practice and precedent.”
In a Fox News interview, Trump denied any knowledge of Whitaker’s previous statements against the Mueller probe, despite such statements had been made public online, on print, and on television. In the same interview, Trump said that having known now, it would not change anything. “No collusion,” the president insisted.
The Senate Democrats pointed out in their complaint:
“The stakes are too high to allow the president to install an unconfirmed lackey to lead the Department of Justice — a lackey whose stated purpose, apparently, is undermining a major investigation into the president.”
“Donald Trump cannot subvert the Constitution to protect himself and evade accountability.”
Trump’s attack on the credibility escalates, even when these two men are registered Republicans and have earned the respect of both the Republicans, Democrats and Independents for their impeccable integrity.
Trump also continues to attack the Mueller probe, and will not sit down for a face-to-face interview with Special Counsel Robert Mueller, contrary to his earlier statements that he would fully cooperate because he is innocent and has nothing to hide.
His attacks against the investigation and the people overseeing the investigation negate his claim of innocence. What is he so angry about and afraid of?
Maybe it is because the Mueller probe, which calls a “witch hunt” has now indicted or gotten guilty pleas from 32 people and three companies —
composed of four former Trump advisers, 26 Russian nationals, three Russian companies, one California man, and one London-based lawyer.
As reported by Vox:
– Six of these people have pleaded guilty. Four of these are ex-Trump aides who struck plea deals with Mueller — Manafort and Gates were charged with a series of offenses related to their past work for Ukrainian politicians and their finances. Papadopoulos and Flynn both admitted making false statements with investigators to hide their contacts with Russians.
– The probe has also filed two major indictments of Russian nationals and a few Russian companies for crimes related to alleged interference with the 2016 election: the troll farm indictment, and the email hacking indictment.
– Konstantin Kilimnik, a longtime Manafort associate, has been charged with obstruction of justice.
– Michael Cohen and Sam Patten struck plea deals after Mueller referred their investigations elsewhere.
– If you also count investigations that Mueller originated but then referred elsewhere in the Justice Department, you can add plea deals from two more people to the list.
– Other reported focuses of Mueller’s investigation — such as potential obstruction of justice by the Trump administration — have also not resulted in any indictments yet.
The Vox rightly pointed out, “It’s a sprawling set of allegations, encompassing both election interference charges against overseas Russians, and various other crimes by American Trump advisers. However, Mueller hasn’t yet alleged any crimes directly connecting the two — that is, alleging that Trump advisers conspired with Russian officials to impact the election. He is continuing to investigate that.”
Mueller has seen evidence nobody has seen. He knows the big picture. He puts all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together. His independent investigation needs to be completed without interference. The American people need to know the truth. And that is what Trump is so afraid of.
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Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos
