Page 2 - Whether Whitaker News Today

>> mr. chairman, i see that your five minutes is up and so. [laughter] we -- i am here voluntarily. we have agreed to five-minute rounds and. [gavel] >> martha: that was just the beginning for acting attorney general matthew whitakers contentious testimony on capitol hill today. democrats first at bat as majority on the committee wasted no time trying to nail down whether whitaker was acting actively against the mueller probe. >> you wouldnt oversee a witch-hunt, would you? you would stop a witc...

Ju fidiciary chairman will be te at 9:30 and explains why the local ran out of jiffy pop tonight. this should be incredible. there is wrangling as reportedly at lot of conser nation how whitaker might do at the hearing because of the back and forth and questions as to whether or not he would be able to appear and i mean able in a number of ways, whitaker has been advised about a lot of things hell be asked about. questions about the firing of former attorney general jeff sessions and whether whi...

Whitaker might do in this hearing. the questions back and forth about whether or not he would be able to appear, and i mean able in a number of different ways. whitakers already been advised about a lot of the things hes going to be asked about. questions about the firing of former attorney general jeff sessions and whether white house officials or the president himself contacted whitaker about replacing sessions. whether those discussions included the possibility of whether whitaker would recus...

Russias meddling in our 2016 election and whether the president knew about it, but they also seem to leave matt whitaker vulnerable himself. with the mind of both of those prongs, if i can go through the questions with you. you want to ask him if he had any communication with any white house official including but not limited to president trump about the possible appointment of acting ag that. seems to also get at whether whitaker obstructed justice, did it not? >> it could be read that way. dep...

Accounts. it matters because the court -- muellers team is still fighting in court about sensitive information that the special counsels office does not want to turn over to concord out of fear that the information will wind up in the hands of the russians. now, that fight is still playing out and i think that latest 2350i8ing could tilt the deck muellers team so this i wont ultimate itly have to provide t information. >> and lets get to whether whitaker will interfere that the report will be sh...

>> thats right. the question is of course whether whitaker has credible information on this. the report where the fbi seized nothing only arrested roger stone. but seized numerous documents and computers in the raid. those are going to take some time to sort through those documents and the computers. and who knows what theyll come up with. so im a bit skeptical about claims there are in indictments coming. we or even the special prosecutor may not know whether there will be anymore indictments. ...

And, you know, i look forward to director mueller delivering the final report. but right now the investigation is, i think, close to being completed, and i hope that we can get the report from director mueller as soon as possible. >> now, of course, the big question is how soon is soon and how close is close? and why would whitaker do this, especially right now. putting aside all of those questions, it also raises an issue of whether this is the last of any of the indictments we will see mueller...

As long as trump has whitaker over there treading water as the acting attorney general, its hard to wrap up mueller, hard to get things done, hard to move on. the justice department necessarily is a holding pattern because theres plenty of doubt about whether whitaker with constitutionally hold that office. he is a tool for killing time for trump and all keeping an eye on mueller and whats going on there. the sooner the better in terms of what the republicans in the senate want and what the just...

Responses in. >> now, mr. rucker, of the four of us you were with the president most recently and that would be late today for your interview in the oval office. the transcript was fascinating. you found him in an expansive mood. he went after his head of the federal reserve. he relitigated the sweeping and the cleaning of the forest floors and said that california has particularly dirty forest floors. and then you got to mueller and whitaker, and tell our viewers what happened then. did it tigh...

Us off the record but repeatedly said he would not discuss this issue on the record, he does not want to insert himself into this discussion about manafort and mueller. and that is rather uncharacteristic for him because hes known, as you know, to be a president who kind of says what he believes when hes asked. he did talk a little bit about mueller, though. he said he has no intention of shutting down the investigation now that hes changed the leadership at the justice department with the new a...