- Moderator
- #61
Even taken in a vacuum, Whittaker's comments on this matter indicate a clear prejudice that just happens to coincide with what Trump has been saying for two years.... in a normal world....He should not have any oversight over Mueller given the highly prejudicial comments he had made.
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What specific prejudicial comments has Whitaker made?
All I can find are comments he made stating the Mueller investigation cannot investigate matters outside the scope memorandum and he details going after TRUMP's finances as being outside the scope of the investigation. I'm pretty sure neither you nor anyone else on this site has seen the unreacted scope memorandum, unlike Whitaker who most certainly has.
Worse, taken in context, including Trump's general behaviors and other comments Whittaker has made on other topics, this looks pretty obvious.
Of course, right wingers won't "see" a thing, no matter what, which is standard operating procedure for myopic partisans on both ends of the spectrum.
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No TRUMP has said the Mueller investigation is a witch hunt from the beginning. Whitaker has said if the special council works outside the scope memorandum it would be a witch hunt. Mueller is leading a special council not an independent investigation.
There are multiple issues with Whittaker. For one, two senate confirmed individuals in line for succession were bypassed in favor of an individual openly hostile to the investigation. This is unprecedented and disturbing, it is also questionably legal and erodes the DoJ’s legal impartiality. You ought to be concerned. The investigation is necessary, thorough and close to winding up.
It is ironic that the people who were gung-ho on endless limitless Hilary investigations, who gave Ken Starr broad authority to exceed his mandate are suddenly squeamish about investigating Trump. Why?
As for things Whitaker had said:
New acting A.G. criticized Mueller probe several times
...Whitaker declared that Russia did not collude with Trump‘s 2016 campaign, although Mueller has yet to release a report on the findings of the investigation.
...Whitaker, while speaking about whether Trump was trying to oust Sessions at the time, said during an interview that he believed that what Trump was “going to start doing is putting pressure on [Deputy Attorney General] Rod Rosenstein, who is in charge of this investigation, is acting attorney general, and really try to get Rod to maybe even cut the budget of Bob Mueller and do something a little more stage-crafty than the blunt instrument of firing the attorney general and trying to replace him.”
He later added: “I could see a scenario where Jeff Sessions is replaced, it would recess appointment and that attorney general doesn’t fire Bob Mueller but he just reduces his budget to so low that his investigations grinds to almost a halt.”
...During an interview on CNN, Whitaker called on Rosenstein to intervene in Mueller’s investigation into Trump Organization finances, adding that he thought Mueller would be “crossing a red line.”
....Whitaker tweeted out an opinion article questioning whether Trump could fire Mueller, adding that it’s “worth a read.”
The article, published by POLITICO Magazine, notes that if “Sessions is replaced as attorney general, then his successor would not be recused, and could either gin up good cause to fire Mueller or (more likely) rescind the good-cause requirement and then terminate him.”
....In a tweet, he criticized the FBI’s raid of the home of Paul Manafort, who served as Trump’s campaign manager. Manafort was indicted for obstruction of justice and witness tampering in June, and was later convicted of bank and tax fraud charges.
“Do we want our Gov’t to ‘intimidate’ us? Hmm — FBI’s Manafort raid incl. a dozen agents, ‘designed to intimidate,’” Whitaker tweeted.
Taken collectively, it is disturbing given that he really should not be saying anything on it, as Mueller is doing.
Is Mueller exceeding his mandate? So far, finances seem to be at the root of it. Tax fraud, money laundering etc. where things are uncovered not directly related, they have been turned over to other authorities.