Justice Dept. rules Whitaker’s AG nod legit

The Justice Department on Wednesday released a legal memo that upholds President Trump’s appointment of loyalist Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general — rejecting charges that the move violated the Constitution.

Since Trump named him to replace Jeff Sessions last week, critics — including George Conway, husband of White House counselor Kellyeanne Conway — ar- gued that the appointment was illegal because Whitaker (right) had not been confirmed by the Senate.

But the Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel said in a 20-page memo that past practice, court rulings and legal analysis all indicate that the Whitaker appointment was proper, The Washington Post reported.

The memo said the appointment was in line with the 1998 Federal Vacancies Reform Act.

Maryland Democratic Attorney General Brian Frosh asked a federal judge to block Whitaker from serving as acting attorney general, arguing that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein should instead take on the role.

Trump fired Sessions the day after the GOP lost the House in the midterm elections and replaced him with Whitaker, who had been Sessions’ chief of staff and a fierce critic of special counsel Robert Mueller and the Russia investigation.

Whitaker, a former federal prosecutor in Iowa, also made disparaging remarks about Supreme Court precedents, and was leery of “secular” judicial candidates, saying he preferred those who based their legal positions on the New Testament.