GOP seniors to Trump: Leave Mueller alone
NATIONWIDE ‘NOBODY IS ABOVE THE LAW’ PROTESTS TO PROTECT INVESTIGATION
Senior Republicans led a chorus of public warnings that the special counsel Robert Mueller must be allowed to continue his Russia investigation after Donald Trump finally fired his attorney general, Jeff Sessions.
As Trump replaced Sessions with a senior aide, Matthew Whitaker, a critic of Mueller’s inquiry, Senator Susan Collins was among the first Republicans to warn: “It is imperative that the administration not impede the Mueller investigation … Special Counsel Mueller must be allowed to complete his work without interference.”
Mitt Romney, who won the race on Tuesday to become a senator for Utah, aimed his first broadside at Trump, tweeting: “It is imperative that the important work of the Justice Department continues, and that the Mueller investigation proceeds to its conclusion unimpeded.”
US progressive groups planned hundreds of protests nationwide yesterday to demand that Trump do nothing to hinder the ongoing investigation into Russian meddling to help him win the 2016 polls.
The protests, operating under the banner: “Nobody is Above the Law” and led by the activist group MoveOn, called for people to gather in cities last evening in an effort to protect the investigation. “Donald Trump has installed a crony to oversee the special counsel’s Trump-Russia investigation,” MoveOn said on its website. It pledged that at least one rally would be held in each state.
The Kremlin has called the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 US election a “headache” for US authorities. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: The inquiry is “a headache for our American counterparts — it has nothing to do with us.”
United States President Donald Trump’s decision to fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions and appoint Sessions’ former chief-of-staff, Matthew Whitaker, as the acting head of the Justice Department immediately raised questions about what the move means for Robert Mueller, the Special Counsel leading the Russia investigation.
The shake-up means that Whitaker assumes oversight of the inquiry from Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general.
Sessions recused himself from overseeing cases arising from the 2016 election, citing his role as an active Trump supporter, so Rosenstein has been serving as acting attorney general for the investigation into whether any Trump associates conspired with Russia’s election interference and whether Trump obstructed the inquiry itself. He appointed Mueller as special counsel.
But because Whitaker is not recused from overseeing cases arising from the 2016 election, as Sessions was, he takes over the case.
What is Whitaker’s attitude towards the Mueller investigation?
In August 2017, before joining the Trump administration, Whitaker wrote in an opinion column that Mueller’s investigation went too far by looking at Trump Organization financial records and by scrutinising Trump’s associates for non-Russia-related crimes in order to encourage them to cooperate.
“It does not take a lawyer or even a former federal prosecutor like myself to conclude that investigating Trump’s finances or his family’s finances falls completely outside of the realm of his 2016 campaign and allegations that the campaign coordinated with the Russian government or anyone else,” he wrote, arguing that Rosenstein needed to rein Mueller in so the investigation did not become “a political fishing expedition”.
How could Whitaker curtail the Mueller probe?
The acting attorney general establishes the special counsel’s jurisdiction and budget. He could tell Mueller to stop investigating a particular matter or could refuse any requests by Mueller to expand his investigation. He could also curtail resources to the Office of the Special Counsel, requiring Mueller to downsize his staff or resources.
Moreover, Whitaker could block Mueller from pursuing investigative steps.
Trump was “clearly” motivated to replace Sessions to affect the Mueller investigation, said David Kris, a founder of the Culper Partners consulting firm who led the Justice Department’s national security division during the administration of former president Barack Obama.
“What guerrilla-war tactics will he try to take to limit Mueller’s activities?” Kris said of Whitaker. “Under the regulation, he has a bunch of supervisory actions he can take, and if he does undertake those actions, the more extreme they are, the more likely they will provoke reactions from other players in this drama.”
Can Whitaker fire Mueller?
The regulation that Rosenstein invoked when appointing Mueller also made it more difficult to fire him. It said that the attorney general may remove the special counsel only for cause, like misconduct of some kind, rather than at will.
Whitaker could decide that Mueller has committed misconduct and fire him, or he could revoke the protections that the regulation provides to Mueller and then fire him without cause.
Can Whitaker quash a Mueller report?
When Mueller completes his work, he is to deliver a report about his findings to the attorney general, according to the regulation. It would then be up to the attorney general — now Whitaker — to decide whether to turn that document over to Congress or keep it secret.
Of course, next year, when Democrats take over the House of Representatives, they could issue a subpoena for such a document, but if the Trump administration wants to fight that subpoena by asserting executive privilege, it is not clear what would happen.
Why isn’t Rosenstein the acting attorney general?
Under normal circumstances, Rosenstein would become acting attorney general. A federal statute governing Justice Department succession says that the deputy attorney general takes over if the office of attorney general is vacant.
However, there is another law, the Vacancies Reform Act, that applies generally across the executive branch. It gives a president other options to make temporary appointments without Senate confirmation.
Under the vacancies law, a president can install a departed official’s first assistant or install someone whom the Senate confirmed for a different position in the executive branch. The third option — which Trump is apparently relying on for Whitaker’s appointment — is to put in place a sufficiently senior official from inside the department.
How long can Whitaker serve as attorney general?
After an administration’s first year in office, an acting official appointed under the Vacancies Reform Act may serve up to 210 days. But Whitaker could serve longer while someone else’s nomination to be attorney general is pending.
If the Senate were to reject that nomination, or if it returned the nomination without acting on it, Trump could start the process over and Whitaker could serve another 210 days or longer. But O’Connell said Trump could not nominate Whitaker himself because an acting head of a department cannot be the nominee for that job. “There is something a little odd,” O’Connell said, “that this gap-filling measure allows putting someone who is not at a senior position, like a deputy, temporarily into one of the most important positions in the country.”
Vilified by Republicans on the campaign trail, Nancy Pelosi emerged on Wednesday as President Donald Trump’s preferred choice to become speaker of the House, arriving on Capitol Hill with an air of inevitability after leading her party back to the majority.
The Democratic leader is positioned to return to the speaker’s office after Democrats took back the House in Tuesday’s midterm elections. Already the only woman to have held the job, she would also become one of the few lawmakers to reclaim the gavel after losing it.
Pelosi is a “smart woman,” Trump said during a nearly 90-minute press conference at the White House, and someone he hopes to engage with in “beautiful bipartisanship” and deal-making.
It was a role reversal from just days ago, when he warned voters of her “radical” agenda. She “deserved” to become speaker again after winning the House, Trump said Wednesday, adding that he looked forward to doing “a tremendous amount of legislation” once power in Congress is divided between a Democratic House and Republican Senate.
At the Capitol, in the stately Rayburn Room — named after the last speaker who returned to the office — Pelosi was asked if she was confident she would become speaker when the new Congress convenes in January. She said simply: “Yes, I am.”
Yet, the ascent of the California Democrat is nowhere near guaranteed. Many younger House Democrats, including some of the newly elected, have pledged to vote against her. They are reluctant to shout the name “Pelosi” when the cameras zoom in during the first roll call of Congress, fearful of the attack ads that will be launched against them.
Teaming up
As Trump and Pelosi extended overtures across Pennsylvania Avenue, they also shadowboxed around the new dynamic created by the House’s ability to probe the President’s business dealings and his administration. Trump warned Democrats not to push too hard with their investigations, or he would “smack back even harder”.
The two have reasons to cooperate. Both want to score legislative wins to bring to voters ahead of the 2020 election. They talked on election night about doing an infrastructure package and lowering health care costs, particularly around prescription drugs, priorities for both sides.
“There’s plenty of opportunity,” Pelosi said, noting she worked productively with President George W. Bush during her last turn as speaker. She also referenced Democratic Representative Maxine Waters of California, another favourite Trump villain, who is set to lead the powerful Financial Services Committee. “Democrats come to this majority with the responsibility not to Democrats — it’s not to Democrats or Republicans — it’s to the United States of America,” she said. “The fact is we’d like to work together.”
Pelosi is likely to win firstround voting later this month to become leader. But becoming speaker requires a majority of the full House, 218 votes, and her slim majority — now at 222 — leaves her little cushion.
Pelosi also heads a trio of septuagenarian leaders, with Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer and Assistant Leader Jim Clyburn. Each is poised to move up a slot.
Democrats come to this majority with the responsibility not to Democrats — it’s not to Democrats or Republicans — it’s to the United States of America. The fact is we’d like to work together.”
Nancy Pelosi | Democratic leader