Matthew Whitaker Cannot News Today

Everyone, welcome. pete, can you walk us through this lawsuit in maryland and where it stands right now. >> sure. first off, im completely outclassed by the other guests it here, but here are the facts. >> you are never outclassed, pete, ever. >> the answer to your question is yes. if the trump administration loses here, im sure theyll try to appeal it as much as they can. heres the maryland state argument. they have this lawsuit against jeff sessions and the government over obamacare. now its t...

He should recuse himself because the appearance of a conflict is just too great here. people need to have faith that people running the department of justice with that immense power are being impartial and nonpolitical. after the statements hes made, whether he can or cant be impartial, theres no way anyones going to believe it, frankly. the comments he made were pretty extreme. i mean, he wasnt just offering sort of legal analysis, heres a case. he said he does not think that president trump co...

And that hes not fair minded. they pint to comments he made as a conservative pundit on cable news where he repeatedly criticized the mueller investigation and even speculated on ways the doj could handicap the probe, a probe that as acting a.g. he now oversees. so the big question we are asking today is if the federal judge rules that matthew whitaker cannot serve as attorney general, will donald trump try to test his presidential powers at the supreme court? joining me now is nbc news justice ...

This more specifically. they also say the constitution says that anybody serving in a cabinet level job has to be confirmed by the senate. now, rod rosenstein was confirm the by the senate. so weare a number of other peop at the justice department the president could have put into this position but didnt. for those two reasons, they say, matt whitaker is not legally qualified to serve as attorney general. >> so where does it stand right now? when should we expect a ruling from this judge? >> wel...

General is to engender peoples faith in the justice system. >> pete, will there be any reaction from the doj officially? >> no, not yet. the judge may ask them to respond to this, but there may also be an opinion from the justice departments office of legal counsel. there was a similar question that arose a couple years ago. there was an opinion on the books about using this law we were talking about, the federal vacancies reform act. there are sort of who laws that say how to fill a vacancy. th...

The presidents authority, his ability to appoint people. he believes that he has this ability and that hes done so constitutionally. this lawsuit says he has not. folks like lawrence will say he has not. what is the likely reaction from donald trump in the white house? >> well, the white house the last few days has been defending this decision to appoint whitaker, but theyve not faced an actual legal challenge until now. the president, as far as i know based on my reporting, is standing by whita...