Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker drew gasps and some laughter in the room during a House Judiciary Committee hearing Friday by attempting to invoke the committee’s five-minute allotment for members to ask questions to avoid answering a question from Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY).
Nadler asked Whitaker is he had been asked to approve of any actions of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
“Mr. Chairman, I see that your five minutes is up,” Whitaker said, causing an uproar in the hearing room.
Nadler pushed him to answer the question, and Whitaker continued to resist, demanding Nadler tell him what the basis of the question was.
Whitaker Attempts To Use Five Minute Rule To Avoid Nadler Question pic.twitter.com/FMDbHad85r
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) February 8, 2019
He’s definitely brought the stupid. Yikes.
Nice Try ! That’s how you win friends and influence…
Not too bright to try using that on the person who holds the gavel.
This is embarrassing… like a slow-motion confession of conspiracy. He’s performing for one viewer.
Trump will miss the serious legal implications of it all in his glee that Whitaker made his 5-minute remark.
I try to avoid overstatement, but this is one of the dumbest comments I have ever seen anybody make, ever.
When you are being interviewed by somebody with legal authority over you, don’t try to gotcha the dude who writes the rules. It doesn’t end well.