{"id":97901,"date":"2018-11-09T21:40:35","date_gmt":"2018-11-10T02:40:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=97901"},"modified":"2018-11-09T11:50:25","modified_gmt":"2018-11-09T16:50:25","slug":"underwood-calls-for-the-recusal-of-acting-attorney-general-whitaker-from-special-counsels-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=97901","title":{"rendered":"Underwood calls for the recusal of Acting Attorney General Whitaker from special counsel’s investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
NYS Attorney General Barbara Underwood<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Underwood calls for the recusal of Acting Attorney General Whitaker from special counsel’s investigation<\/strong><\/p>\n

18 attorneys general send letter to Whitaker citing his public comments criticizing special counsel\u2019s investigation; urge that Rosenstein continue to supervise investigation<\/em><\/p>\n

Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood \u2013 part of a coalition of 18 attorneys general \u2013 called for the recusal of Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, referencing his widely-circulated public comments criticizing\u00a0Special Counsel Robert Mueller\u2019s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s vital that the Special Counsel\u2019s investigation move forward free from any appearance of interference or bias,\u201d Underwood said. \u201cAs such, Acting Attorney General Whitaker has a clear responsibility to recuse himself from any role in the investigation\u00a0\u2013\u00a0in order to ensure that the public can trust the integrity of the investigation and to protect DOJ\u2019s fundamental independence.\u201d<\/p>\n

The letter<\/a>, sent directly to Whitaker at the U.S. Department of Justice, states that his\u00a0recusal is \u201cnecessary to maintain public trust in the integrity of the investigation and to protect the essential and longstanding independence of the department you have been chosen to lead, on an acting basis.\u201d<\/p>\n

The attorneys general cite federal ethics regulations that require federal government employees to recuse themselves from participation in matters involving any \u201cquestion in the mind of a reasonable person about his impartiality.\u201d<\/p>\n

The letter states that\u00a0in print, on television, and through social media, Whitaker has suggested cutting the Mueller\u2019s budget or limiting his authority to follow lines of inquiry. The attorneys general also write that\u00a0Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein should continue to\u00a0supervise the special counsel\u2019s investigation, which must proceed free from interference or supervision that would \u201cappear to many Americans to be biased.\u201d<\/p>\n

The letter was signed by the attorneys general of Massachusetts, New York, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and the District of Columbia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Underwood calls for the recusal of Acting Attorney General Whitaker from special counsel’s investigation 18 attorneys general send letter to Whitaker citing his public comments criticizing special counsel\u2019s investigation; urge that Rosenstein continue to supervise investigation Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood \u2013 part of a coalition of 18 attorneys general \u2013 called for the recusal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":93740,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","category-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=97901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97901\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/93740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=97901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=97901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=97901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}