NBC

Top Dems Say Whitaker Must Offer ‘Immediate Recusal' From Mueller Probe

Democratic leaders pressed the Department of Justice's top ethics official on Sunday to provide answers on whether the department has advised acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker to recuse himself from overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, NBC News reported.

In a letter to Lee Lofthus, the assistant attorney general for administration, Democrats highlighted Whitaker's past comments criticizing the Mueller probe and what they called a "troubling" conflict of interest as evidence that he should have no role overseeing the investigation.

"There are serious ethical considerations that require Mr. Whitaker’s immediate recusal from any involvement with the Special Counsel investigation of the Russian government’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election," the Democrats wrote.

Before Whitaker joined the Justice Department as former Attorney General Jeff Sessions' chief of staff in late 2017, he was a conservative legal commentator and wrote an opinion piece for CNN titled "Mueller's investigation into Trump is going too far."

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