Over 400 former DOJ alumni oppose Trump’s appointee Matthew Whitaker to replace the unjustly ousted Jeff Sessions, because Whitaker has not been vetted.
“We, the undersigned, are proud alumni of the United States Department of Justice. We have served under Senate-confirmed Attorneys General who come from both political parties,” the statement begins.
“The Attorney General is responsible for ensuring that we are a nation of laws and that every citizen and every government official — including the President himself — is equally subject to those laws. Because of the profound responsibilities the position entails and the independence it requires, it can only be filled by someone who has been subjected to the strictest scrutiny under the process required by the Constitution,” they write.
“Mr. Whitaker has not been confirmed by the Senate, his qualifications to be the nation’s chief law enforcement officer have not been publicly reviewed, and he has not been fully vetted for any potential conflicts of interest. While we know that there are thousands of dedicated public servants now at the Department who will do their utmost to protect its mission and reputation, it falls to all of us to ensure that the Department’s role in maintaining the rule of law is not undermined or tainted. We therefore call on the President to follow the Constitutional process by nominating an Attorney General, and replacing Mr. Whitaker as Acting Attorney General with the Senate-confirmed official who is next in the line of succession by operation of federal law. We likewise call on the Senate to insist that its Constitutional prerogative to provide advice and consent be respected.”
If you are a former DOJ employee and would like to add your name below, click here. This list will be updated twice daily with new signatories.”
After ignoring several subpoenas, the way you would if you were fit to be the top Attorney General of the country, The FTC, which won a preliminary injunction against the company accused of fraud upon which Whitaker sat on the board, subpoenaed Whitaker on Oct. 6 but again got no response.
Perhaps Whitaker was at Tobin’s house working out for several months.
Later that month, one FTC lawyer emailed colleagues to say: “You’re not going to believe this. … Matt Whitaker is now chief of staff to the Attorney General of the United States.”
Yes, indeed. “You are not going to believe this.” That’s pretty much the phrase of the Trump presidency.
Aside from the obvious issue that Trump fired Sessions to protect himself from the Russia probe, Whitaker has not been vetted by the Senate, as is the process. While hacks will come up with any excuse to justify this, there is no actual justification and indeed the motive is sinister.
Why do we vet Attorney Generals? Oh, things like the fraud allegations against an invention promotion company where he was an advisor, to which he was “slow to respond to government investigators probing it.”
And there’s always the old “Should the president be able to stab his own country in the back by conspiring with a hostile foreign power?” – a question no law abiding and respecting applicant would shrug off as Whitaker has.
We require at the minimum that our AG is first and foremost loyal to the United States of America. Sorry not sorry.
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