Tag: Face-off

In the latest battle for control that is any public handshake with Donald Trump, the Frenchman comes out on top. » Subscribe to MSNBC: http://on.msnbc.com/SubscribeTomsnbc MSNBC delivers breaking news, in-depth analysis of politics headlines, as well as commentary and informed…

The acting attorney general, Matthew Whitaker, said on Friday that he has “not interfered in any way” in the special counsel’s Russia investigation as he faced a contentious congressional hearing in his waning days on the job. Democrats launch new investigation into Trump's finances and Russia links Read more Democrats confronted Whitaker on his past criticism of the special counsel Robert Mueller’s work and his refusal to recuse himself from overseeing it, attacked him over his prior business dealings, and sneeringly challenged his credentials as the country’s chief law enforcement officer. “We’re all trying to figure out: who are you, where did you come from and how the heck did you become the head of the Department of Justice,” said congressman Hakeem Jeffries. “We have followed the special counsel’s regulations to a T,” Whitaker said. “I’m thinking about maybe we just set up a popcorn machine in the back because that’s what this is becoming. It’s becoming a show,” said the Republican congressman Doug Collins ,of Georgia, who accused his Democratic colleagues of “character assassination”. But congressman Jerrold Nadler, the committee chairman who a day earlier had threatened to subpoena Whitaker to ensure his appearance, left no doubt about his party’s focus. “The question that this committee must now ask is: Why?” Democrats also inquired about Whitaker’s past business dealings. But he did not answer directly whether he had discussed that investigation, run by prosecutors in New York, with Trump, insisting only that the president had never instructed him to take particular actions. He said his comment at an unrelated news conference last week that the Mueller investigation was close to wrapping up – a remark that generated significant attention and speculation – reflected only “my position as acting attorney general”.