![]() ![]() Whitaker also downplayed the importance of the investigation in a series of appearances on CNN in 2017. Referring to reports at the time that the special counsel probe had widened to focus on possible financial crimes, unconnected to the 2016 election, Whitaker wrote that it was time for the Justice Department “to order Mueller to limit the scope of his investigation.” “The Trump Organization’s business dealings are plainly not within the scope of the investigation, nor should they be,” Whitaker added in that August 6, 2017, op-ed. That goes beyond the scope of the appointment of the special counsel.” DVwCr4hH5Kīy naming Whitaker, who has been serving as Sessions’s chief of staff, as the acting attorney general, Trump effectively appointed the former federal prosecutor to oversee the investigation into his 2016 campaign’s contacts with Russia, taking that responsibility away from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller after Sessions had recused himself from the matter.īefore he joined the Justice Department, Whitaker had argued last year in his role as a CNN legal analyst that the Mueller investigation needed to be reined in, writing in an opinion piece that “investigating Donald Trump’s finances or his family’s finances falls completely outside of the realm of his 2016 campaign and allegations that the campaign coordinated with the Russian government or anyone else. Jason Crow of Colorado, who served as an impeachment manager with Schiff, says Republicans are trying to rewrite history.Donald Trump moved to impede the Russia investigation on Wednesday by replacing Attorney General Jeff Sessions with a temporary successor, Matthew Whitaker, who argued last year that Special Counsel Robert Mueller should be barred from investigating the president’s finances.Īttorney General Sessions says farewell to the Department of Justice. McCarthy, R-Calif., called the indictment a “grave injustice” and said that House Republicans “will hold this brazen weaponization of power accountable.”ĭemocratic Rep. House Republicans, most of whom are loyal to Trump, say the indictment is evidence that the government is conspiring against the former president. The House censure resolution comes days after Trump was indicted on detailed federal charges of hoarding classified documents – several of which dealt with sensitive national security matters - and attempting to conceal them. But the investigation yielded only one conviction - a guilty plea from a little-known FBI employee - and the only two other cases that were brought both ended in acquittals at trial. Trump had claimed that Durham’s report would reveal the “crime of the century” and expose a “deep state conspiracy” by high-ranking government officials to derail his candidacy and later his presidency. ![]() But he did not allege that political bias or partisanship were guiding factors for the FBI’s actions. Luna in the censure resolution against Schiff also cited a report released in May from special counsel John Durham that found that the FBI rushed into its investigation of Trump’s campaign and relied too much on raw and unconfirmed intelligence.ĭurham said investigators repeatedly relied on “confirmation bias,” ignoring or rationalizing away evidence that undercut their premise of a Trump-Russia conspiracy as they pushed the probe forward. Trump was impeached a second time a year later, after he had left office, for his role in the Januinsurrection at the Capitol of his supporters. Schiff was the lead House prosecutor making the case for conviction to the Senate - " right matters,” he said repeatedly - but the Republican-led chamber ultimately acquitted him. After Democrats won the House majority in 2018, the House impeached Trump for abuse of power after he threatened to withhold military aid to Ukraine and urged the country’s president to investigate then-candidate Joe Biden. ![]()
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