Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has written to the Justice Department's inspector general asking that he investigate what Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker may have relayed back to the White House about Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation while he was serving as former AG Jeff Sessions' chief of staff.
In a letter to DOJ inspector general Michael Horowitz, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) asked him to open a formal probe into whether there have been any “unlawful or improper communications” between Whitaker and the White House during his service as former attorney general Jeff Sessions’s chief of staff, when he was in regular touch with Trump and White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly.
In particular, Schumer said he was concerned that as acting attorney general, Whitaker could share “confidential grand jury or investigative information from the Special Counsel investigation or any criminal investigation.”
Schumer also wants Horowitz to investigate whether Whitaker “provided any assurance to the President, White House officials, or others regarding steps he or others may take with regard to the Special Counsel investigation, including any intention to interfere, obstruct, or refuse authorization of subpoenas or other investigative steps.”
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Congressional Democrats have been concerned that Whitaker, who has supported the president’s unbridled criticism of Mueller’s probe, may have been named as Sessions’s successor to oversee its undoing. Many have called for Whitaker to recuse himself, while some sued this week to challenge his appointment as unlawful.
Following a meeting with Whitaker last week, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) — a recent Trump ally and the likely heir apparent to lead the Senate Judiciary Committee next year — said he was sure Whitaker would not do anything “draconian” to Mueller’s probe.
Schumer to Justice inspector general: Investigate Whitaker’s contact with White House (WaPo)