Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker won’t appear before the House Judiciary Committee on Friday as scheduled unless the panel guarantees it will not subpoena him if he dodges any questions, the Justice Department announced Thursday.
The House Judiciary Committee voted to prepare a subpoena for Whitaker that would only be used if he “refuses to answer legitimate questions,” including those on his conversations with President Trump regarding special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, according to committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y.
But the Justice Department sent Nadler a letter Thursday claiming that Whitaker won’t show up to the scheduled hearing under those conditions. He will only appear if the panel provides written confirmation that he won’t be subpoenaed if he declines to answer questions.
“We seek a written assurance from your office that the committee will not issue a subpoena to the acting attorney general on or before Feb. 8, and that the committee will engage in good-faith negotiations with the department before issuing such a subpoena,” the Justice Department wrote.
A representative for the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner nor did a representative for the House Judiciary Committee.
Nadler was concerned Whitaker would fail to appear before the committee and pointed out that the hearing had already been postponed from January and that the committee received reports the Justice Department recommended Whitaker skip the hearing.
But Republicans, who opposed the resolution, were confident that Whitaker would appear and said they were worried about the precedent a prepackaged subpoena might set for future witnesses.
Whitaker received written questions in advance, allowing him to consult the White House on whether there were instances where Trump wanted to invoke executive privilege. However, Whitaker never responded to Nadler.
“The resolution does not cause the subpoena to be issued,” Nadler said Thursday before the committee passed the resolution. “I hope and expect that this subpoena will not be necessary — but unfortunately, a series of troubling events over the past few months suggest that we should be prepared.”
