Acting Attorney General (and Iowan) Matt Whitaker was back in the state yesterday. He gave a speech that didn't address the controversy around his appointment - but the White House HAS addressed it.
The Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel issued an opinion Wednesday supporting President Trump’s appointment of Matt Whitaker as acting attorney general, despite criticism from Democrats who have questioned his qualifications to oversee the Russia investigation.
In its opinion, the Office of Legal Counsel said that the president’s appointment of Whitaker to replace former Attorney General Jeff Sessions was consistent with the Federal Vacancies Reform Act (VRA) of 1998.
But a senior Justice Department official said this week that when reviewing Whitaker’s appointment, the OLC had to research back to 1866 to find a similar instance where a non-Senate confirmed individual sat as acting attorney general. The Justice Department wasn’t created until 1870, though an attorney general existed prior to that. The official told Fox News that the issue was “constitutionality” of the appointment.
I'll be talking to Jon Decker of Fox News Radio who is at the White House about the opinion. Join me at nine!