Why Whitaker is panic-stricken

Jennifer Rubin on Whitaker’s delaying tactics:

“This is outrageous,” said constitutional scholar Larry Tribe. “Whitaker seems to think he is entitled to dictate the terms on which he is invited to testify. He is not. It is anti-constitutional for a member of the Article II branch, not to mention an unconfirmed acting officer whose initial appointment was of dubious legality, to insist that he will not appear to give testimony properly sought by the Article I branch, acting through a duly constituted committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, unless that Article I committee first sacrifice one of its statutory and constitutional prerogatives.”

In other words they’re allowed to subpoena him, and he doesn’t get to refuse to testify unless they promise promise promise not to subpoena him. That’s not how any of this works.

We don’t know why precisely Whitaker is panic-stricken over the prospect of testifying. He might be so unqualified and ignorant that he fears public humiliation. He might have engaged in improper collaboration with Trump in trying to slow down the investigation or ferret out information helpful to Trump or Trump cronies. We simply do not know.

But we do know the whole thing is sleazy af.

“There are obviously questions Matt Whitaker is terrified to answer, and so DOJ is grasping for excuses to avoid appearing,” said former Justice Department spokesman Matthew Miller. “I think they’ve wanted to push this appearance until after Barr is [installed] all along, and now they’re setting up a court fight that could delay it for months, when they must hope anything he says will be old news.” He added: “It is terrible behavior by the Justice Department and an ominous sign of how the Trump administration intends to treat legitimate Congressional oversight.”

In other words, Trump and Whitaker have corrupted an unknown number of lawyers, who took an oath to the Constitution and who operate under professional ethics rules, to thwart the legitimate interests of Congress and more important, the American people.

It’s a dirty business. Speaking of dirty business…a reporter asked Princess Ivanka if she isn’t worried about all of this.

Watch her placidly lie, every hair in place. Ice cold criminal.

 

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