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Former Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker reacted on “Sunday Morning Futures” to a federal appeals court directing the judge hearing the case against former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn to respond to a petition by Flynn for the charges against him to be thrown out. “There is no discretion of Judge [Emmet] Sullivan to not dismiss the case once the Department of Justice has decided to no longer pursue those charges,” Whitaker said in an exclusive interview on “Sunday Morning Futures.” “I think ultimately it’s going to be a strange proceeding when the appeals court gets their filing from the...

Then-Attorney General Eric Holder acted as President Barack Obama’s “wingman,” creating a highly politicized Justice Department that would steer investigations away from Democratic allies, including Hillary Clinton, and onto GOP foes such as President Trump, according to a successor. AboveTheLaw COVER.jpg Matthew Whitaker, a former U.S. attorney who served as a Trump's acting attorney general between Jeff Sessions and William Barr, claimed in a new book that Holder “created an above-the-law culture” in the department that led to the bumbled investigations that the president has dubbed “Obamagate.” In Above the Law, provided in advance of its release, Whitaker described a...

The House Judiciary Committee believes it has evidence that President Trump asked Matthew Whitaker, at the time the acting attorney general, whether Manhattan U.S. attorney Geoffrey Berman could regain control of his office’s investigation into Mr. Trump’s former lawyer and his real-estate business, according to people familiar with the matter. Mr. Berman, a former law partner of Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani who in 2016 donated to the Trump campaign and whom the president personally interviewed for the U.S. attorney job, last year had recused himself from involvement in the matter. He didn’t give a reason, but legal experts said his...

After it claimed no such document existed, the Justice Department just unearthed a letter Matt Whitaker delivered to the Utah U.S. attorney directing a review of how the department handled the Clinton Foundation and the Uranium One issues. Then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions wrote the letter on Nov. 22, 2017 for Utah U.S. Attorney John Huber. Matt Whitaker, who was Sessions’ chief of staff at the time, emailed the letter to Huber that day, writing, “As we discussed.” He also sent Huber a copy of a letter the Justice Department’s Congressional affairs chief sent to the chairman of the House Judiciary...

Former Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker left his position at the Justice Department on Saturday, a department spokeswoman said.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday that former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker would return to Capitol Hill to clarify previous testimony. "I want to thank Mr. Whitaker for volunteering to meet with us to clarify his ⁦@HouseJudiciary⁩ testimony, and I look forward to working with Ranking Member ⁦@RepDougCollins⁩ to schedule that meeting in the coming days," Nadler tweeted. The Justice Department said that Whitaker will meet with the committee privately, according to The Associated Press. Whitaker publicly testified before the Judiciary Committee on Feb. 8 in what was at times a heated hearing. Nadler invited Whitaker...

Former senior FBI official Chuck Rosenberg ripped Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker on Friday night, calling his testimony in front of the House Judiciary Committee “disgraceful.” "I’ve testified many times in Congress," Rosenberg, who served as chief of staff under former FBI Director James Comey and as a U.S. attorney in the Bush (and Obama) administration(s), explained during an interview on MSBNC. "Sometimes the questions are good and thoughtful, sometimes they’re compound and incomprehensible, but you have to answer every one with a degree of civility and dignity, and that was sorely lacking.” Whitaker sparred with various lawmakers during his...

Sheila Jackson Lee gets in nasty dustup with Whitaker https://youtu.be/xopB8fsZlVU “Mr. Attorney General, we’re not joking here, and your humor is not acceptable,” Jackson Lee snapped. “You are here because we have a constitutional duty to ask questions, and the Congress has the right to establish government rules. The rules are that you are here. So, I need to ask the question and I need to have my time restored so you can behave appropriately. I will behave appropriately as a member of the Judiciary Committee.”

Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker stunned onlookers and lawmakers during an already-contentious House hearing Friday, when he tried to call time on the Democratic chairman after yet another line of questioning regarding Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe. The retort came after Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., first said he wanted Whitaker to appear for a private deposition after the hearing and went on to ask Whitaker whether he had been “asked to approve any requests or action” for the special counsel. “Mr. Chairman, I see that your five minutes is up, so…” Whitaker replied as the hearing room broke out...

Special counsel Robert Mueller has almost finished up his nearly two-year investigation into collusion and Russian interference in the 2016 election, the acting attorney general said Monday. "The investigation is, I think, close to being completed, and I hope that we can get the report from [Special Counsel] Mueller as soon we — as possible," acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker said during a news conference after announcing criminal charges against one of China's largest telecommunications companies. "I have been fully briefed on the investigation, and I look forward to director Mueller delivering the report, and I really am not going...

The probe of possible Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, is wrapping up, Acting U.S. Attorney General Matthew Whitaker told reporters on Monday. "I've been fully briefed on the investigation and I look forward to Director Mueller delivering the final report"

The Supreme Court denied an effort to strip acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker’s name from a pending case, swatting down a push to force the justices to send a signal that President Trump’s temporary pick is illegal. Lawyers had asked the justices to remove Mr. Whitaker and substitute Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, arguing that he should be the rightful head of the Justice Department under the law, after former Attorney General Jeff Sessions was ousted last year. The request came in a case involving Barry Michaels, who is challenging a law denying him the right to purchase a firearm...

Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., Monday called on the Department of Justice to immediately halt federal funding to the Nation of Islam, after the Washington Examiner first reported that the group has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the government to teach religious studies programs to prison inmates. In a letter to the Justice Department obtained by the Washington Examiner, Buchanan called the report “disturbing” and said the government’s funding of the openly anti-Semitic black separatist group was “downright immoral.” “As you may know, the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center have designated the Nation of Islam as...

WASHINGTON, DC – House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-SC) sent a letter to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Inspector General Michael Horowitz, and Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker outlining the Committees’ joint investigation into decisions made by the Department of Justice in 2016 and 2017. The letter sent to Majority Leader McConnell, Mr. Horowitz, and Mr. Whitaker can be found HERE.

Two top Republican chairmen stressed Friday that the final report from special counsel Robert Mueller "must be trusted by Americans." In closing out their joint committee investigation into decisions made by the Justice Department, Oversight Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., and Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., took a shot at their Democratic counterparts for playing up concerns that their probe was a campaign to undermine Mueller. "Contrary to Democrat and media claims, there has been no effort to discredit the work of the Special Counsel," Gowdy and Goodlatte wrote in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., acting Attorney...

people being considered are the White House budget chief, Mick Mulvaney, and a Republican congressman from North Carolina, Mark Meadows. Other names in the mix include Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker and Trump's former deputy campaign manager, David Bossie.

Former FBI Director James Comey says Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker "may not be the sharpest knife" in the drawer. Comey made those comments during an interview Monday with WGBH News in Boston. Comey said Whitaker "may not be the sharpest knife in our drawer" but Comey said Whitaker "knows that if he acted in an extralegal way, he would go down in history for the wrong reasons."

Full Title: Here We Go: Office of Special Counsel Opens Investigation on Acting AG Matt Whitaker Over Hatch Act Violations An independent federal investigative agency is looking into whether acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker violated prohibitions on political activities by federal employees by accepting contributions to his 2014 Senate campaign earlier this year. Last January and February, when Whitaker served as chief of staff at the Department of Justice, four individuals donated a total of $8,800 to the committee for Whitaker’s unsuccessful 2014 run for a Senate seat in Iowa, according to Federal Election Commission records. Austin Evers, the executive...

Matthew Whitaker doesn’t have to fire Robert Mueller to throw a wrench in the special counsel’s investigation. Much of the focus on President Trump’s appointment of Whitaker to temporarily replace former Attorney General Jeff Sessions has been on the possibility of Whitaker removing Mueller, a move that would undoubtedly spark public outrage and trigger full-scale investigations by Democrats, who are poised to take control of the House in January. ADVERTISEMENT But federal regulations offer Whitaker, now acting attorney general, broad authority with respect to the special counsel that extends beyond the ability to remove Mueller, giving him the ability to...

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) wants the DOJ inspector general to investigate President Trump's relationship and correspondence with Matthew Whitaker in the wake of his appointment to acting attorney general. Trump gave Whitaker the role after ousting former AG Jeff Sessions. Democrats are outraged for at least two reasons. One, that Whitaker has publicly criticized Robert Mueller's Russia probe and two, that Whitaker did not get Senate approval for the new position. They argue that under the succession statute, the role of acting AG rightfully belongs to Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein. Schumer adds that if Whitaker remains in the role, he...