EXCLUSIVE Senate Democrats Call For DOJ Ethics Probe After Whitaker Non-Recusal

Source: The Daily Beast


Senate Democrats sent the letter just days before Attorney General nominee William Barr's confirmation hearing.

Betsy Woodruff
01.11.19 2:20 PM ET

All the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter on Friday to the Justice Department’s inspector general calling for him to scrutinize and potentially investigate the department’s ethics practices.

In the letter, the lawmakers expressed concern about Attorney General Matt Whitaker’s decision to oversee Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe, despite having previously criticized the investigation and claimed it would find no evidence of coordination between Trump World and the Kremlin. The letter will not necessarily result in any action from the DOJ’s government watchdog.

“Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker’s decision to disregard the advice of career DOJ ethics officials to recuse himself from oversight of Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicates that DOJ’s internal ethics procedures have failed,” the senators wrote. “Not only does this raise serious concerns about Mr. Whitaker’s current actions as Acting Attorney General, but it also calls into question DOJ’s ethics procedures to assess and address potential conflicts of William P. Barr, President Trump’s nominee to be Attorney General.”

Career ethics officials at the department recommended to Whitaker that he recuse himself from supervising the Mueller investigation, according to a letter from a top DOJ official to Congress. But Whitaker did not take their advice, and now supervises the probe he once claimed would be fruitless.


Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/senate-democrats-call-for-doj-ethics-probe-after-whitaker-non-recusal