President Donald Trump lit the fuse on a potentially-explosive constitutional crisis the day after losing the House of Representatives by ordering the resignation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Sessions’s chief of staff Matthew Whitaker will serve as acting attorney general, Trump announced.
Whitaker also will assume oversight of the ongoing investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, and possible collusion by Trump’s campaign in that meddling. Whitaker by law can serve as acting AG for a maximum of 210 days.
By naming an acting AG who has not recused himself from the investigation of Russian influence in the 2016 election, the move to fire Sessions also neuters Deputy AG Rob Rosenstein who had been overseeing the investigation. Shortly before being named to the Justice Department, Whitaker penned an op-ed highly critical of the Mueller probe and conventional wisdom is this spells doom for the investigation.
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer warned Trump to pull back before plunging the nation into a full-blown constitutional crisis.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, the New York Democrat and Senate minority leader, said, “Protecting Mueller and his investigation is paramount.”
“It would create a constitutional crisis if this was a prelude to ending or greatly limiting the Mueller investigation and I hope President Trump and those he listens to will refrain from that,” Schumer said.
New York Congressman Jerry Nadler, incoming chair of the House Judiciary Committee, did not mince words in his tweet on the subject.
Americans must have answers immediately as to the reasoning behind @realDonaldTrump removing Jeff Sessions from @TheJusticeDept. Why is the President making this change and who has authority over Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation? We will be holding people accountable. https://t.co/weykMuiCxm
— (((Rep. Nadler))) (@RepJerryNadler) November 7, 2018
One thing seems clear on this day after the midterms… the long knives have been unsheathed and one way or another, the Russian investigation is about to come to a head.
Stay tuned.