[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 185 (Monday, November 26, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S7076]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                        Acting Attorney General

  Mr. President, one other point on Whitaker, the Acting Attorney 
General.
  It has been almost 3 weeks since President Trump tapped Mr. Matthew 
Whitaker to be the Acting Attorney General. Since that time, I, along 
with Democratic Leader Pelosi and the ranking members of key committees 
in the House and Senate, have sent a letter to the Department of 
Justice, asking for a formal update on whether Mr. Whitaker must recuse 
himself from the Russia investigation given that he has had a long 
history of criticizing. We have not yet received a response. It has 
been 3 weeks with no response. I have also sent a letter to the 
Department of Justice, asking its inspector general to look into 
whether Mr. Whitaker and the White House had any improper or unlawful 
conversations prior to his appointment--again, no response.
  In the meantime, we have learned that before joining the Department 
of Justice, Mr. Whitaker served on the advisory board of a company that 
was accused of scamming and deceiving consumers. We learned he received 
thousands of dollars in campaign contributions 4 years after his 
campaign ended. They don't seem like campaign contributions, do they? 
They were something else. Far more evil was at stake, and he got them 
just before he became Attorney General Session's Chief of Staff. 
Amazingly, we have learned that he has received $1.2 million in 
compensation for unspecified work for a shadowy, conservative, dark 
money organization that refuses to disclose its donors.
  The more the public learns about Mr. Whitaker, the more troubling his 
appointment becomes. He is hardly the most honorable man given all of 
this. He is the Acting Attorney General without having had any review 
by anyone other than President Trump, who has shown that he wants the 
Justice Department to be his personal arm of attack, not the rule of 
law--to go after his enemies and lay off his friends.
  Beyond the shady business dealings, the most important thing is, Mr. 
Whitaker will not recuse himself from the Russia probe despite his 
publicly expressing his bias against the investigation. Clearly, he has 
shown he is willing to meddle in the investigation. That, in all 
likelihood, is why President Trump appointed him.
  What a sad place we are in. We need to come together in the Senate--
Democrats and Republicans--to pass legislation to protect the special 
counsel's investigation. We already have the bill. It is bipartisan--
two Republicans, two Democrats. It passed committee on a bipartisan 
vote. Chairman Grassley, to his credit, voted for it, and now we have 
an urgent reason to consider it on the floor. If the majority leader 
refuses to give it the vote it deserves, the Democrats will push to 
include it on the must-pass spending bill that we must approve in the 
next few weeks.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.