House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) on Wednesday suggested that Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker misled the committee during a recent oversight hearing. Nadler threatened to formally depose Whitaker if the acting attorney general’s responses to certain questions weren’t clarified.
“Members on both sides of the aisle found many of your answers to be unsatisfactory, incomplete, or contradicted by other evidence,” Nadler wrote in a letter to Whitaker.
“I have asked my staff to work with yours to give you an opportunity to clarify these and other matters, and we are available to meet in the coming days for that purpose,” Nadler wrote. (Read the full letter below.) “I believe we can reach a reasonable accommodation with the Department about your responses to these questions.”
“Failing that, we would expect to pursue a date and time for a formal deposition.”
Nadler cited two examples in his letter.
First, Whitaker’s denial that Trump never lashed out at him about former fixer Michael Cohen’s guilty plea. A CNN report contradicts Whitaker’s testimony. And, Nadler wrote Wednesday, “the Committee has identified several individuals with direct knowledge of the phone calls you denied receiving from the White House.”
“As a result,” he continued, “we require your clarification on this point without delay.”
Nadler then addressed Whitaker’s claim during testimony that he did not share his views about the Mueller investigation “with anybody essentially in the President’s circle or at the White House.” But Whitaker himself later admitted to speaking to White House officials while interviewing for a White House attorney position that would deal directly with Mueller’s probe.
Nadler wrote that Whitaker “claimed, somewhat incredulously, that you never mentioned your ‘opinions about the Mueller investigation’ over the course of those discussions.”
“We require your clarification on this point as well,” Nadler wrote.
Read Nadler’s letter below:
