Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have written to the Justice Department's inspector general asking for a review of how the department handles possible conflicts of interest, citing Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker's refusal to recuse himself from the Mueller probe in spite of receiving advice from career ethics officials that he should.
In the letter, the lawmakers expressed concern about Attorney General Matt Whitaker’s decision to oversee Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe, despite having previously criticized the investigation and claimed it would find no evidence of coordination between Trump World and the Kremlin. The letter will not necessarily result in any action from the DOJ’s government watchdog.
“Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker’s decision to disregard the advice of career DOJ ethics officials to recuse himself from oversight of Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicates that DOJ’s internal ethics procedures have failed,” the senators wrote. “Not only does this raise serious concerns about Mr. Whitaker’s current actions as Acting Attorney General, but it also calls into question DOJ’s ethics procedures to assess and address potential conflicts of William P. Barr, President Trump’s nominee to be Attorney General.”
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Whitaker, as acting attorney general, has insight into the moves Mueller and his team are making. If he still holds that post when Mueller files a report on the probe, he will decide whether or not to make the report public (though refusal to release it would result in a court fight).
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Michael Bromwich, formerly the inspector general for the Justice Department, told The Daily Beast a request like this one wouldn’t necessarily result in any action.
“Letters like this come in all the time,” he told The Daily Beast. “One of an IG’s most difficult tasks is making decisions about whether to pursue investigations or reviews that are requested by members of Congress ... "
Senate Democrats Call For DOJ Ethics Probe After Whitaker Non-Recusal (Daily Beast)