The Justice Department has concluded that Matthew Whitaker does NOT need to recuse himself from the Russia investigation and can officially oversee it:
CNN – Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker has consulted with ethics officials at the Justice Department and they have advised him he does not need to recuse himself from overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, a source familiar with the process told CNN Thursday.
The source added Whitaker has been in ongoing discussions with ethics officials since taking the job in early November following the ouster of Jeff Sessions, who had stepped aside from overseeing the investigation due to his role as a Trump campaign surrogate during the 2016 election.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein oversaw the investigation following Sessions’ recusal and his office is still managing the investigation on a day-to-day basis, as CNN has previously reported.
When, exactly, ethics officials signed off on Whitaker’s role was not immediately clear, but as of last month, he had not stepped aside from participating in significant developments in the Russia investigation. He was informed ahead of time that Trump’s former attorney and fixer Michael Cohen would plead guilty to lying to Congress about the proposed Trump Tower project in Moscow.
Whitaker is expected to inform senators, many of whom have raised ethics concerns given his past criticism of Mueller’s investigation, about this development later Thursday, the source said.
Well this is what we expected to happen. But Democrats and the media are sure to be furious about it as they believe Robert Mueller and Rod Rosenstein are trying to save the republic from Trump…or something.
Expect a lot of screeching from Democrats today and into the foreseeable future.
Don’t forget there is still a lawsuit by Senate Dems trying to block Whitaker’s appointment on the grounds that he’s never been confirmed by the Senate for any job and they believe that’s required to be acting AG.