Doj Ethics News Today

Thank you. Volume 2, page 76, correct . Ill leave the answer to our report. So thats a yes . Is it true your investigation did not establish that any members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the russian government in election interference activity, volume 1, page 2. Volume 1, page 73 . Yes. Thank you. Although your Report States collusion is not a specific offense and you said that this morning or a term of our in federal criminal law and experience is, in the colloquial conte...

Advised the president that the asserted conflicts were, in his words, silly and not real conflicts. isnt that true? >> i refer to the report on that episode. >> well, page 85 of volume 2 speaks to that. and also, director mueller, doj ethics officials confirmed that you had no conflicts that would prevent you from serving as special counsel, isnt that correct? >> thats correct. >> but despite don mcgahn and the department of justice guidance, around may 23rd, 2017, the president, quote, prodded ...

Words, silly and not real conflicts, isnt that true sph. >> i refer to the report on that episode. >> well, page 85 of volume 2 speaks to that. and also director mueller, doj ethics officials confirmed that you had no conflicts that would prevent you from serving as special counsel. isnt that correct? >> thats correct. >> but despite don mcgahn and department of justice guidance around may 23, 2017, the president, quote, prodded mcgahn to complain to deputy attorney general rosenstein about thes...

Very much. and obviously, when it comes to subpoena, its a crucial question. because were -- weve now been reporting that mueller wants to talk to the president, still in person, right? follow up on those written responses and the presidents team, rudy giuliani saying, over my dead body, hit me with a subpoena, well fight it. this is a very crucial and pertinent question. outfront now, harry sanzik and james trusty. harry, barr was, we just heard some of those, right, very vague on some really c...

Media statements to have prejudged the mueller investigation, when there is an appearance of bias it is best practices to recuse yourself and according to the letter that was submitted to congress, apparently senior ethics officials do think on balance because of this appearance of bias issue he should recuse himself. in an odd twist of events, which cannot be made up, apparently matthew whitaker had created his own sort of counsel of advisers separate and apart from the doj ethics folks who app...

At least he let those watching the investigation have some peace of mind it was conducted by officials without any personal stake. >> so what do you make of the fact that whitaker ignored the advice of a doj ethics official to recuse himself from the mueller investigation? he says that there wasnt an absolutely must. there was no conflict of interest that was identified. it was the appearance, perhaps, of impartiality. he didnt want to be the person who then set that line for future people who a...

Nature of the communications between the white house and the d.o.j., so as not to create an appearance of partisanship in the administration of justice. this seems to violate that, the spirit of those regulations. >> and so on top of all of this now, we also learned that whitaker disregarded advice from a d.o.j. ethics official to recuse himself from the russia probe. can he be made to recuse himself? or when a recommendation comes in, from someone on ethics, should he be honoring it? >> yes, he...

Month. so this is something they want to get to the bottom of to figure out why exactly it was that donald trump, whether he asked michael flynn to lie and was that the case. was there a quid pro quo during the campaign that michael flynn them operationalized with the russian ambassador to hide their misdeeds and get on a better foot with russia. >> i want to go to matt whitaker, going to our latest headline, ive been suggested by the ethics committee of the d.o.j. that i should maybe recuse mys...

We learned whittaker is rejecting advice from doj ethics officials to recuse himself. he sought out this informal advice. ethics said it was a close call but they would recuse. should whittaker have taken that advice? >> i think it should have. its quite interesting it wasnt in writing. he wasnt on the campaign like jeff sessions. he doesnt have any people in the white house or appearance of conflict of interest. i think its clear given the president stepped over rod rosenstein to put him here, ...

Two major developments this morning regarding the russia investigation. acting attorney general matt whitaker has been told he does not need to recuse himself from the probe. a source tells cnn whitaker consulted with doj ethics officials. they advised him he does not need to step away from the investigation despite the fact whitaker argued in a cnn op-ed last year that the probe was going too far. meanwhile, bill barr, the man the president has picked to be his permanent attorney general, is fa...