Nadler Says He Needs More Answers From Whitaker And May Issue Subpoena

WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 08: House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) (L) and ranking member Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA) (R) spar during a hearing with Acting U.S. Attorney General Matthew Whitaker in ... WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 08: House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) (L) and ranking member Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA) (R) spar during a hearing with Acting U.S. Attorney General Matthew Whitaker in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill February 08, 2019 in Washington, DC. Following a subpoena fight between Nadler and the Justice Department, Whitaker was questioned about his oversight of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) MORE LESS
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At the end of the House Judiciary Committee’s hearing with acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker on Friday, Chair Jerry Nadler (D-NY) said that he was not satisfied with Whitaker’s responses to certain questions and that he will use a subpoena to obtain those answers if necessary.

“You owe us responses on a number of issues raised here today. Responses we intend to secure,” Nadler said. “I ask the Department [of Justice] to work with the committee to provide them. As part of that work I fully intend to call you back for an interview, under subpoena if necessary and I expect more answers at that time.”

Earlier in the hearing, Nadler mentioned that he would like to bring Whitaker back for a closed-door interview with the committee. But Nadler did not specify when that would occur, and Whitaker did not say whether he would be willing to attend.

Nadler told Whitaker at the conclusion of the hearing that the committee needs to know more about Whitaker’s briefings on the special counsel investigation and his communications with the White House about the probe, among other topics. Nadler in particular suggested that Whitaker gave a misleading response when he said he did not talk to the White House about the Mueller probe before joining the Justice Department.

“I would also note that your testimony was at best inconsistent on the topic of your communications with the White House prior to your tenure at the Department. It is not credible that you both interviewed for a job handling the President’s response to the special counsel investigation and never conveyed your opinions about that investigation to the White House,” Nadler said.

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  1. hell yeah, subpoena that jerk. get him under oath and up on charges.

  2. By all accounts he actively lobbied for the job based on his animus toward the special counsel investigation. So yes, it’s not credible that they never talked about it. So let’s have it one more time, from the top, Chrome Dome.

  3. Nadler and everyone else with a functioning brain stem knew how today would go. This was a foregone conclusion.

    I appreciate that Nadler was willing to let the subpoena thing go for a day and have the opportunity to show what a chuklehead Whitaker is.

    Now make with the subpoena.

    Basically put the administration on notice that you get one chance to testify if not it gets real quick…

  4. Subpoena him. These questions are simple and very critical

  5. “Ask not for whom the hammer slams down upon; it slams down upon thee, mofo!”

    (I cannot definitively say that John Donne ever wrote those words, but I’ll bet my perfect Michelangelo-sculpted ass he would if he were around today!)

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