Democracy 21 Says In Letter To Acting AG Whitaker That He Must Recuse Himself From Oversight Of Mueller Investigation
Democracy 21 Says In Letter To Acting AG Whitaker That He Must Recuse Himself From Oversight Of Mueller Investigation
In a letter sent to Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker today, Democracy 21 called on Whitaker to recuse himself “from any involvement in the investigation being conducted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into Russian interference in the 2016 election.”
According to the letter, Whitaker has “made a series of public statements that demonstrate to the American people your bias and hostility against the Mueller investigation. These statements make clear that you cannot make publicly credible decisions as the person responsible for overseeing this investigation.”
The letter stated:
With regard to the firing of former FBI Director James Comey, you have publicly said that “there is no criminal obstruction of justice charge to be had here,” and that the Comey firing would not “raise [sic] to the level of obstruction.”
You have also publicly said, regarding the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Trump campaign officials and Russian agents, “you would always take the meeting” and that the meeting was not “enough to suggest there’s some conspiracy … to violate either election laws or espionage laws.”
According to the letter:
According to published reports, one focus of the ongoing Mueller investigation is whether the Comey firing violated, or is part of a pattern of violating, obstruction of justice laws.
Another focus of the ongoing investigation is whether the Trump Tower meeting involved any violations of law, including of the election laws, by Trump campaign officials.
Your previous public statements demonstrate you have prejudged both of these matters and that you have already concluded, in both instances, that there were no violations of law. You have done so without knowing the findings of the Mueller investigation regarding these matters.
The letter noted that Whitaker also had publicly identified himself with the position that the Mueller investigation was a “lynch mob.” The letter stated, “There is no rehabilitation for the bias you have publicly shown, and no way for you to establish that you can oversee this investigation in a fair and credible way now.”
According to the letter:
This is not just a matter of your own personal credibility, but it also is a matter of the credibility of the Justice Department that you currently lead as Acting Attorney General. The Justice Department’s mission requires the Department to enforce the law in a neutral, unbiased, and non-partisan fashion.
The letter stated:
If you continue to lead the Mueller investigation, given your clear personal bias and hostility to the investigation, you will taint the entire Department and undermine its core mission “to do equal and impartial justice
The letter concluded:
If you take actions to undermine the investigation, you will be seen as President Trump’s agent acting to cripple or kill a criminal investigation that directly involves the President and his family.
As Acting Attorney General, your allegiance must be to the Department of Justice and to the American people, and not to the President, his family or his close associates.
Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election was a direct and purposeful attack on our democracy and on our political system. The American people are entitled to get to the bottom of what happened and to know who was responsible and whether they broke the law. This will not be possible to do in a credible manner as long as you are responsible for overseeing the investigation.
Democracy 21 calls on you to immediately recuse yourself from overseeing the Mueller investigation.
Read the full letter here.
