To watch this video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBfw1rBDdNY
All you really need to know about Donald Trump’s choice for acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker is that Trump felt Jeff Sessions wasn’t corrupt enough to continue in the position.
Whitaker has
been a hostile witness in front of the House Committee on Friday, acting both
condescending and ornery at any and all questions sent his way by House Democrats.
Representative
David Cicilline (D-RI) can talk fast and doesn’t suffer bullies lightly, and
his intense questioning of Whitaker was a master class in fighting fire with
fire.
Rep. Cicilline
opened by negating the almost sociopathic evasive answer pattern Whitaker has
employed during Friday’s hearings—thanking and appreciating every
single question before not answering any single question.
Rep. Cicilline: Mr. Whitaker, I will be straight. I will cut you off if you make long speeches. You do not need to thank me for asking, or complementing me. I assume that they're all great questions and you're grateful.
Hehe.
Rep. Cicilline: One, you were briefed by special
counsel, did you share that information with members of staff, the information
you learned in the briefing from the special counsel or his team?
Whitaker uses
this moment to remind Rep. Cicilline that he isn’t answering any questions
about Donald Trump because he’s not actually answering any questions.
Cicilline begins
to fire questions at Whitaker who does his best to slowly and monosyllabically evade
them, realizing that he’s probably perjuring himself—but then again, what
person in the Trump administration hasn’t perjured themselves?
When it becomes
clear that Whitaker isn’t going to be particularly illuminating in his answers,
Rep. Cicilline decides to give him a dose of what it feels like to be
disrespected by someone, as he just begins cutting him off after a word or two,
knowing it’s a load of hot orange air coming out of Whitaker’s mouth.
Rep. Cicilline: You would not answer questions
about conversations with the president, did you not?
Whitaker: Yes, I did.
Rep. Cicilline: So you are not sitting here today
saying the president has instructed you to answer questions, correct?
Whitaker: I'm not sitting here --
Rep. Cicilline:--You're prepared to answer all of the
questions?
Whitaker: Congressman, I was pretty --
Rep. Cicilline:--Have you spoken to the president, Mr.
Whitaker about the Mueller investigation?
Whitaker: Congressman, as I have previously
testified, I did not talk to the president about the Mueller investigation.
Rep. Cicilline: Have you ever spoken to the president
or member—or parts of his legal team—about information that you've learned in
your capacity as acting attorney general related to the Mueller investigation
or any other criminal investigation involving the president?
Whitaker: Congressman, while I have
specifically been saying that I'm not going to comment about
my conversations with the President or his senior staff. I have also
been very clear that the president has not instructed me to do
anything.
Rep. Cicilline: That wasn't my question. My
question is have you had conversations about what you learned. That's a
yes or no.
Whittaker: Congressman, I have, I spend all day
every day—
Rep. Cicilline: --Mr. Whitaker, my
question is very specific: have you spoken to the President or his
legal team about what you've learned in the Mueller investigation or
were the related criminal investigation that may involve
the president, yes or no?
Whitaker can’t
and won’t answer this question because, well, he probably thinks this will keep
him out of jail or at least on the mythical Trump-pardon list that Trump
probably has scrawled on a napkin somewhere.
Rep. Cicilline
finishes by reading off a series of statements surrounding Matthew Whitaker’s
alleged statements to St. John’s Law professor John Q. Barrett that he was
going to try and get “noticed” by Trump, with his amazing ideas about how
president Trump should be left alone by the Mueller investigation.
Rep. Cicilline
finishes by laying it all on the table:
Rep. Cicilline: You said all those things
and they're all in print. And it answers Mr. Deutch’s
(D-FL) question. The American people wondered just how is it that
Mr. Whittaker becomes the acting Attorney General of the United
States, in violation of existing statutes. Was he put there for a
particular purpose. That wasn't a question.