Former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker will appear privately before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.
Whitaker testified publicly before the panel in February and was criticized by House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., who said he provided inadequate answers to the panel’s questions.
As a result, Whitaker is scheduled to meet with Nadler and House Judiciary Committee ranking member Doug Collins, R-Ga., on Wednesday, according to CNN.
Nadler laid the foundation for Whitaker to appear again and “clarify” his testimony, writing a letter after Whitaker’s original testimony. He argued that Whitaker’s responses were “unsatisfactory, incomplete or contradicted by other evidence.”
In particular, Nadler took issue with Whitaker’s responses to questions surrounding whether Trump or his associates contacted him after Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress in November. CNN reported in December that Trump vented to Whitaker about Cohen’s confession.
Nadler’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner.
Whitaker, who is no longer at the Justice Department, headed the agency from November 2018 to February after Trump fired former Attorney General Jeff Sessions. During that period of time, Whitaker was in charge of overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing Russia investigation. The probe is examining Russian interference in the 2016 election, and whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin.
