Whitaker’s team wrongly claims no AG has ever recused to avoid an appearance of conflict. It’s actually happened at least 3 times:
1. Ashcroft in Valerie Plame leak investigation (h/t @nycsouthpaw)
2. Holder in John Edwards investigation.
3. Holder in AP leak investigation. https://t.co/4LwTSIwBBH
— Eric Columbus (@EricColumbus) December 20, 2018
Typical of Trumglodytes: ask a question of the relevant experts and follow their advice — unless you don’t like it. Remember when Trump said he’d abide by the 2016 election results — unless they said he lost. Heads I win, tails you lose. I fear for 2020.https://t.co/ZRB8L0V32C
— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) December 20, 2018
Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker will go against an ethics official's advice and will not be recusing himself from the Russia investigation. He will have final say over any of the inquiry's major developments. https://t.co/wagKEF8uAZ
— The New York Times (@nytimes) December 20, 2018
New information on Whitaker/ethics review:
– he never sought a formal recommendation on whether to recuse from Mueller, he did get guidance on the applicable rules
– ethics thought it was a close call on the *appearance* of a conflict, but found no actual legal conflict— Laura Jarrett (@LauraAJarrett) December 20, 2018
This ethics opinion must be shared with Congress. Now.
DOJ officials must avoid not only actual impropriety but the appearance of impropriety.
Given Whitaker’s prejudicial comments about Mueller, the public can have no confidence in him. We will scrutinize his every action. https://t.co/0Jxbn1eJSP
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) December 20, 2018
This is turning into an enormous scandal. Ethics officials told Whitaker they would recommend recusal, so he set up a different group of officials (probably political appointees, but unclear) to make a different recommendation. What in the hell is going on at DOJ? https://t.co/gYBeY3RoGP
— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) December 20, 2018
It gets better. DOJ won't even disclose the identify of the team they assembled to countermand the ethics recommendation that Whitaker recuse: "The senior official who described the Whitaker discussions refused to identify the particular Justice Department employees involved." https://t.co/6wPqm0s6Ha
— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) December 20, 2018
The unwinding of the initial backward spin on this story is (finally) making it clear what happened.
WaPo headline here is long, but gets it:
"Ethics officials said Whitaker should recuse from the Mueller probe, but his advisers told him not to"https://t.co/2Vk4gKT8fA
— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) December 20, 2018
If it’s a “close call,” in these circumstances, Whitaker should recuse. https://t.co/CLoL70LTf5
— Preet Bharara (@PreetBharara) December 20, 2018
Trump at war with Justice. Crony refuses to follow Ethics decision that he should recuse himself. https://t.co/QnjASMYbGt
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) December 20, 2018
This is about as outrageous as it gets. I cannot imagine any AG I have worked for or known disregarding ethics advice in this way. https://t.co/WbXE7wEUfx
— Ronald Klain (@RonaldKlain) December 20, 2018
Sad! 