Carson City residents protest to protect Mueller investigation

Carl Welch
14:40, Nov 13, 2018
Copyright 2015 All rights reserved. This material can't be published, transferred, copied or redistributed.
Copyright 2015 All rights reserved. This material can't be published, transferred, copied or redistributed.

That would include specifying that only a Senate-confirmed Justice Department official - which Whitaker is not - could dismiss Mueller. However, now that Sessions is gone, his acting replacement Matt Whitaker will oversee the investigation.

The investigation has netted numerous incitements and several guilty pleas and has yet to conclude, but yesterday President Trump summarily appointed Matthew G. Whitaker as acting Attorney General, and protesters in Carson City and across the nation are concerned that Whitaker in his new authority will end the Mueller investigation.

Both are false narratives created to protect and empower the special counsel's fanged cabal of Trump-hating prosecutors while also attempting to intimidate the president.

The probe, led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller under the supervision of the Justice Department, has clouded the Trump presidency.

Democrats have called on Whitaker to recuse himself as he has previously made negative comments about the probe.

In a statement to Justice Department employees, Whitaker said Friday: "As we move forward, I am committed to leading a fair Department with the highest ethical standards, that upholds the rule of law, and seeks justice for all Americans". Look for Whitaker to reduce Mueller's operating budget, pull lawyers and investigators now working on Mueller's team back to DOJ, refuse to authorize grand jury subpoenas or indictments, and/or push Mueller to wrap up the probe as soon as possible.

Whitaker has been vocal in his criticism of the Mueller inquiry into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 elections, saying its scope was too wide and that probing the finances of the Trump family was crossing a red line.

Axios went first with a story headlined, "Pressure mounts over acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker".

Result: The special counsel's office can be smothered from within but with no "Saturday Night Massacre" headlines or transgression of whatever unwritten guardrails may have been put in place for Trump by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and outgoing House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis.


Such appointments can be done for senior officials who have worked in the department for at least 90 days and can last for up to 210 days, spokesman George Hartmann said.

Even as Trump seems to be distancing himself from Whitaker, two Republicans close to the president said Trump had enjoyed Whitaker's TV appearances and the two had struck a bond.

"He's a highly respected man, especially by law enforcement, and I think he's going to do a great job", Trump said. McConnell said that's not needed because the probe will be allowed to finish.

Whitaker, a former USA attorney from Iowa, was not hired and he continued to work as a political pundit for CNN.

Trump had repeatedly denounced Sessions for having recused himself from the Russian Federation investigation in March of 2017, leaving Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, a defender of the investigation, in overall charge of its conduct.

William Gustoff, who co-founded a law firm with Whitaker and remains in contact with the acting attorney general, said Trump's comment may simply mean that the two don't know each other "intimately".

Now that the House of Representatives is in the control of Democrats-who will support the Mueller investigation with their subpoena power-the president clearly feels increasingly threatened.

"I'm not doing anything", he said.

As attorney general, and earlier as White House counsel, he faced criticism for drafting controversial rules for military war tribunals, seeking to limit the legal rights of detainees at the US prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., and Sen.

Copyright 2015 All rights reserved. This material can't be published, transferred, copied or redistributed.


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