Photo Courtesy of the Attorney General’s Office
“It’s vital that the Special Counsel’s investigation move forward free from any appearance of interference or bias,” AG Underwood said.
By Forum Staff
State Attorney General Barbara Underwood on Thursday called for the recusal of Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, referencing his widely-circulated public comments criticizing Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Underwood and 17 other attorneys general signed a letter to Whitaker urging that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein continue to supervise the probe, which must proceed free from interference or supervision that would “appear to many Americans to be biased.”
The missive states that Whitaker’s recusal is “necessary 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.”
The attorneys general cite federal ethics regulations that require federal government employees to recuse themselves from participation in matters involving any “question in the mind of a reasonable person about his impartiality.” The AG’s noted that in print, on television, and through social media, Whitaker has suggested cutting Mueller’s budget or limiting his authority to follow lines of inquiry.
“It’s vital that the Special Counsel’s investigation move forward free from any appearance of interference or bias. As such, Acting Attorney General Whitaker has a clear responsibility to recuse himself from any role in the investigation—in order to ensure that the public can trust the integrity of the investigation and to protect DOJ’s fundamental independence,” Underwood added.
The letter was also signed by the attorneys general of Massachusetts, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and the District of Columbia.
