Acting attorney general has questioned Mueller inquiry
IOWA CITY, Iowa — The man who will serve at least temporarily as the nation’s top law enforcement official has relatively little Washington experience and has called for limiting special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
Matthew G. Whitaker, 49, who is from Iowa, will become the nation’s acting attorney general following the forced resignation of Jeff Sessions. President Donald Trump announced the appointment Wednesday, saying on Twitter that Whitaker “will serve our Country well” and that a permanent attorney general will be nominated later.
Sessions was pushed out Wednesday after more than a year of blistering and personal attacks from President Donald Trump over his recusal from the Russia investigation.
Sessions, in a one-page letter to Trump,
said he was resigning “at your request.” The resignation was the culmination of a relationship that soured just weeks into Sessions’ tenure, when he stepped aside from the Mueller investigation.
Trump blamed the decision to recuse for the appointment of Mueller, who took over the Russia investigation and began examining whether Trump’s unhappiness with Sessions was part of a broader effort to stymie the probe.
Trump had repeatedly been talked out of firing Sessions until after the midterms but told confidants in recent weeks that he wanted Sessions out as soon as possible after the elections, according to a Republican close to the White House.
Whitaker, a former federal prosecutor, served as Sessions’ chief of staff for one year.
The bulk of Whitaker’s relevant experience came when he served as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Iowa from 2004 until 2009, a position for which he was recommended by Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, now chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. In that role, the telegenic former college football player managed attorneys who prosecuted federal crimes and represented the government in civil matters in half of Iowa.
Recent acting and permanent attorneys general have been longtime government lawyers or high-ranking politicians with more experience navigating Washington than Whitaker.
Critics worry that Whitaker may be unlikely or unwilling to defend the Department of Justice’s independence against political interference by the White House, given his history of partisanship and loyalty to Trump. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday that Whitaker should recuse himself from overseeing the Mueller investigation given his previous public comments that appeared to exhibit hostility toward the inquiry.
During a brief stint last year as a conservative legal commentator on CNN, Whitaker often appeared as a Trump defender, saying he saw no evidence the president colluded with Russians during the 2016 campaign or obstructed justice. He wrote last year on CNN. com that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein should limit the scope of Mueller’s investigation to stop him from delving into Trump’s finances.
“If he doesn’t, then Mueller’s investigation will eventually start to look like a political fishing expedition. This would not only be out of character for a respected figure like Mueller, but also could be damaging to the President of the United States and his family — and by extension, to the country,” he wrote.
He also said on CNN last year that he could see a scenario in which Sessions’ replacement doesn’t fire Mueller but “just reduces his budget to so low that his investigation grinds to almost a halt.”
Asked whether Whitaker would assume control over Mueller’s investigation, Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Flores said Whitaker would be “in charge of all matters under the purview of the Department of Justice.” The agency did not announce a departure for Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller and has closely overseen his work.
Des Moines attorney Guy Cook, a Democrat who has known Whitaker for years, called him a clear thinker and a “no-nonsense guy who is not to be underestimated.”
“But I think most importantly, from the president’s perspective, he’s loyal,” Cook said. He said that reasonable people can agree with Whitaker’s perspective on the Mueller investigation, but “I’m sure that’s something that got the president’s attention.”
Grassley said Whitaker “will work hard and make us proud,” saying that the department would be in good hands during the transition.
Most of Whitaker’s career has been spent in private practice, including at a Des Moines law firm he founded with other Republican Party activists in 2009. Whitaker helped start and served for three years as executive director of the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust, an “ethics watchdog” that often targets Democratic officials and groups with misconduct investigations and complaints.