Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker did not meet a Wednesday morning deadline to invoke executive privilege in advance of his testimony at a committee hearing later this week, according to House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY).
Having not heard from Whitaker, Nadler sent a new letter reminding him that he will be expected at a hearing Friday to answer certain questions about his White House communications regarding special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
“Because you have not provided any notification to the Committee regarding executive privilege—or, indeed, any communication in response to the January 22 letter—my understanding is that you will provide full and complete answers to these questions when they are asked at your hearing this Friday,” Nadler said.
Nadler previously announced that he would be seeking committee approval to subpoena Whitaker, if necessary. That vote will be happening on Thursday.
Altogether, the developments point to the potential for a confrontational hearing on Friday, if Whitaker is not, in fact, planning to “provide full and complete answers” to those questions.
The topics Nadler previewed to Whitaker include whether he discussed his decision not to recuse from the the Mueller probe with the White House, and whether he has communicated information he’s learned about the investigation to Trump, the White House or Trump’s personal legal team. Nadler also indicated that the committee would be asking him about his White House communications related to the federal probes in New York with links to Trump.
When Republicans controlled both chambers of Congress, administration officials were often allowed to decline to answer lawmakers’ questions about their interactions with Trump without formally invoking privilege. Now that Democrats have the gavel in the House, it appears that they won’t let administration officials off so easily for refusing to answer Congress’ questions.
In past administrations, the invocation of executive privilege was often used as a negotiating tool that led to Congress and the executive branch coming to some sort of accommodation for the requested documents or testimony that avoided a full-on legal fight.
From Nadler’s letter, it seems that no such negotiation has been taking place, setting the stage for a potentially dramatic hearing on Friday.
On Thursday, Nadler will hold a mark-up on a resolution to subpoena Whitaker “to secure his appearance and testimony at the hearing of the Committee regarding oversight of the U.S. Department of Justice.”
The top Republican on the committee, Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA), meanwhile bashed the move to authorize a subpoena because Whitaker had already agreed voluntarily to appear in front of the committee. Collins said it sent a” message to witnesses” that “if you make the time and effort to appear of your own accord, Democrats are going to subpoena you anyway.”
The Justice Department did not respond to TPM’s inquiries.
Read Nadler’s latest letter to Whitaker here.
