The Justice Department has concluded that Matt Whitaker, appointed by President Donald Trump as the acting attorney general, had no reason to recuse and is overseeing Robert Mueller’s special counsel investigation, a person familiar with the decision on Thursday told NBC News.
Formal notice of his role was expected to come in a letter to congressional Democrats who had said his critical comments about the Mueller investigation, made when he was a conservative commentator, require him to recuse — that is, to take himself out of any supervision of the case.
His predecessor, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, recused himself because he was an active campaigner for then-presidential candidate Trump.
In a letter to the Justice Department’s top ethics officer in November, seven Democratic leaders said, “Mr. Whitaker’s statements indicate a clear bias against the investigation that would cause a reasonable person to question his impartiality.”
Photo Credit: AP, File
Source: NBC San Diego
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