Wednesday, November 7, 2018

Appointment of Whitaker an Ethical Outrage

The firing of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the appointment of Matt Whitaker as his replacement has brought this nation to the threshold of a constitutional crisis.Mr. Whitaker has said publicly, on multiple occasions, that the Mueller investigation had crossed a redline and should be curtailed. He has also defended Donald Trump Jr. taking a meeting with Russians who offered to provide dirt about Hillary Clinton. Ethical standards would mandate that Mr. Whitaker recuse himself from any role in overseeing the Mueller investigation. That is not going to happen.
While Whitaker may be foreclosed by law from firing Mueller without good cause he is likely to claim falsely the existence of such cause. Alternatively, Whitaker will move to handcuff Mueller and insure that his anticipated findings never see the light of day.
The response to this unfolding outrage must be immediate and robust. The Congress must enact protective legislation. The soon to be chairs of the House Intelligence Committee (Rep. Adam Schiff) and the Judiciary Committee (Rep. Jerrold Nadler) should instruct Mueller to deliver his findings to their respective committees. They should also announce their intent to initiate investigations into the circumstances of the Whitaker appointment. Mueller must share his work product with the US Attorneys having jurisdiction of the subject matter of his investigation. Mueller should also immediately, if he has not already done so, request that Dep. Attorney General Rod Rosenstein grant him authority to share his findings with Congress.
Meanwhile, all respecters of the Constitution and adherents of the rule of law must take to the streets, en masse, to protest any attempt to subvert the critical work of the Special Counsel.

No comments: