Obvious Double Standard on Recusals Proves Russia Probe Is About Getting Trump

By The Federalist. The installation of Matthew Whitaker as the acting attorney general has the recusal pundits barking like shelter dogs in the presence of a trespassing squirrel. In case you’re wondering how the recusal rules work, it’s simply a matter of whether it helps or hurts Trump.

Don’t believe me? See if you can detect a pattern. Since Whitaker might reign in the special counsel, he must be recused, they argue. Similarly, when it appeared former attorney general Jeff Sessions might help Trump, he acceded to demands he recuse himself. But Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is a proven thorn in the president’s side with an obvious conflict of interest, so no demands for recusal there.

Judge Rudy Contreras’s friendship with disgraced FBI agent Peter Strzok and lawyer Lisa Page at the same time he was reviewing Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant applications from Strzok did not require recusal from considering the application. But the Trump appointee with authority to consider a search warrant of Trump’s lawyer’s private office was recused, leading to the raid to look for evidence that likely could have been obtained by subpoena.

The recusal pundits called for the recusal of newly confirmed Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh because he might side with the president in future cases. Yet when Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg calls Trump a “faker” and openly expresses dismay at the prospect of his presidency, she need not recuse. Don’t bother reading the underlying rules on conflict of interest, because there’s only one test that matters: Would the recusal help get Trump? . . .

Forcing Whitaker to recuse himself from the Robert Mueller probe would “protect” it by restoring oversight responsibility to Rosenstein. This seems to be a bipartisan goal. Republicans have joined the Democrats and the media to knowingly caution against the imprudence of stopping the Mueller “investigation.” But before we start contemplating tortured recusal arguments, it’s worth asking, “What is Mueller is supposed doing, anyway?” (Read more from “Obvious Double Standard on Recusals Proves Russia Probe Is About Getting Trump” HERE)

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Trump Says Mueller Team Has ‘Gone Absolutely Nuts’

By USA Today. Criticized for picking an acting attorney general who has a history of speaking out against Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, President Donald Trump launched another attack Thursday against the special counsel.

Claiming that “the inner workings of the Mueller investigation are a total mess,” Trump tweeted that investigators “have found no collusion and have gone absolutely nuts. They are screaming and shouting at people, horribly threatening them to come up with the answers they want.”

Trump did not detail his complaints, though he described Mueller’s team as “a disgrace to our Nation.”

Lawmakers criticized Trump for appointing aide Matt Whitaker as acting attorney general to replace dismissed Jeff Sessions, a move they said was designed to impede the Russia investigation.

Sessions had recused himself from the Mueller investigation. Whitaker is in a position to supervise an inquiry he has repeatedly criticized in interviews over the past year-and-a-half. Whitaker suggested that defunding could stop the Mueller investigation. (Read more from “Trump Says Mueller Team Has ‘Gone Absolutely Nuts'” HERE)

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