Said Kirsten Gillibrand to Colbert: \u201cBecause he\u2019s such a senior position, you need advice and consent of the Senate\u2026There was a succession plan. It should have been Rosenstein. They not only disregarded that, but then put someone in place who has not had hearings and approval by the Senate\u2026He should recuse himself [from the Mueller probe]\u2026He\u2019s a lackey of the president.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whitaker has no intention of recusing himself, the Washington Post<\/em> reports<\/a>: \u201cOn Thursday, two people close to Whitaker said he does not plan to take himself off the Russia case. They also said he is deeply skeptical of any effort to force the president\u2019s testimony through a subpoena.\u201d<\/p>\n And the NYT agrees that Whitaker\u2019s appointment is unconstitutional<\/a>: \u2018A principal officer\u00a0must be<\/em>\u00a0confirmed by the Senate. And that has a very significant consequence today.\u00a0It means that Mr. Trump\u2019s installation of Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general of the United States after forcing the resignation of Jeff Sessions is unconstitutional. It\u2019s illegal. And it means that anything Mr. Whitaker does, or tries to do, in that position is invalid. Much of the commentary about Mr. Whitaker\u2019s appointment has focused on all sorts of technical points about the Vacancies Reform Act and Justice Department succession statutes. But the flaw in the appointment of Mr. Whitaker, who was Mr. Sessions\u2019s chief of staff at the Justice Department, runs much deeper. It defies one of the explicit checks and balances set out in the Constitution, a provision designed to protect us all against the centralization of government power.\u2019<\/p>\n Some of Whitakers views: \u201cMatthew Whitaker, now acting attorney general after the president fired Jeff Sessions, said of prospective federal judges, \u2018are they people of faith? Do they have a biblical view of justice? Which I think is very important.\u2019 Whitaker made the remarks at a conservative forum in April 2014, where he appeared as a candidate for the Republican US Senate nomination in Iowa.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n And this<\/a>: \u201cIn 2007, Matt McCoy was a rising star in the Democratic Party, Iowa\u2019s first openly gay<\/a> senator and a leading champion for the party\u2019s causes. But then, his allies say, McCoy\u2019s promising career was stalled by a politically motivated federal prosecution brought by a Republican U.S. attorney, Matthew G. Whitaker, who on Wednesday became the nation\u2019s top law enforcement official after President Donald Trump named him acting attorney general.\u201d<\/p>\n The post The Appointment of Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker is Unconstitutional<\/a> appeared first on Towleroad Gay News<\/a>.<\/p>\n