Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker ignored the advice of ethics officials when he decided not to recuse himself from oversight of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into alleged collusion between President Trump and Russia.
According to a letter sent to congressional leaders late Thursday, senior Justice Department ethics officials, including a top career ethics official in the office of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, briefed Whitaker on ethics rules and guidelines as soon as Trump chose him to lead the department last month.
Ethics officials said there was no legal conflict of interest or personal relationship that would require Whitaker to recuse himself. But they recommended that he recuse himself anyway.
“The ethics officials concluded, however, that if a recommendation were sought, they would advise that the Acting Attorney General should recuse himself from supervision of the Special Counsel investigation because it was their view that a reasonable person with knowledge of the relevant facts likely would question the impartiality of the Acting Attorney General,” said the letter from Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd.
“The ODAG ethics official also expressed his view that it was a close call and credible arguments could be made either way,” the letter added. “The Acting Attorney General’s senior staff conveyed these views to the Acting Attorney General.”
But the letter also said the “ultimate decision” was Whitaker’s, and he decided not to recuse himself for several reasons.
One was that there was “no actual conflict of interest” and that no other prior attorneys general ever had to recuse themselves from similar situations. It also said Whitaker did not want to recuse himself based on a “close call” situation because of the precedent it would set.
The letter also cited comments made by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who said he was told by Whitaker earlier this month that he did not see a reason to fire the special counsel and believed the investigation had not “breached any department guidelines.”
Supervision of Mueller’s investigation remains the same, the letter concluded.
“There has been no change in the overall management of the special counsel investigation, which continues to be managed by the deputy attorney general,” the letter said.
On Thursday, Rosenstein defended Mueller’s ongoing investigation and said it continues to be managed “appropriately.”
“In terms of my role, as we’ve described previously, we’ve continued to manage the investigation as we have in the past and it’s being handled appropriately, whether it’s Bob Mueller or Rod Rosenstein or Matt Whitaker or Bill Barr, that investigation’s going to be handled appropriately by the Department of Justice,” he explained.
