WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker’s appearance before a House committee (all times local):
12:40 p.m.
Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker has declined to answer a question about whether special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation is a “witch hunt.”
President Donald Trump has repeatedly called the Russia probe a “witch hunt.” Asked by Democratic Tennessee Rep. Steve Cohen on Friday if he also thought it was, Whitaker declined to answer, citing the ongoing investigation.
Asked by Cohen if he would stop a “witch hunt,” Whitaker said it would be “inappropriate” to answer that question. Whitaker oversees the Mueller probe.
Trump’s permanent pick for attorney general, William Barr, has said he does not believe Mueller would be involved in a “witch hunt.”
Democrats are eager to press acting Whitaker during his first testimony to Congress on his interactions with Trump and his oversight of the special counsel’s Russia investigation.
10:20 a.m.
Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker says he has “not interfered in any way” in the special counsel’s Russia investigation.
Whitaker also says he has not talked to President Donald Trump or senior White House officials about the investigation.
The acting attorney general made the comments Friday during a contentious hearing of the Democrat-led House Judiciary Committee.
Whitaker has been supervising special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation after rejecting the advice of career ethics officials to step aside out of an abundance of caution.
The testimony comes as Whitaker is likely winding down his tenure leading the Justice Department.
10:05 a.m.
House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler says he wants to ask Acting Attorney General Matthew Whittaker why he wouldn’t recuse himself from overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
Nadler also wants to know why President Donald Trump left Whitaker in his acting position for so long after Attorney General Jeff Sessions was pushed out. Trump waited a month to nominate William Barr to the permanent position after Whitaker took over.
Nadler asked on Friday what Trump hoped to get out of appointing him and what Whitaker provided to Trump, a question the top Republican on the committee, Georgia Rep. Doug Collins, called “offensive.”
Democrats said they would not use a subpoena they had authorized in case Whitaker doesn’t answer questions. But Nadler said they would get answers “in the long run.”
