JEFF SESSIONS/JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “A new Justice Department analysis released Wednesday [11-14-18] backs up President Donald Trump’s appointment last week of acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker despite a growing political and legal backlash. The 20-page DOJ memo — addressed to top White House attorney Emmet Flood — leans heavily on historical precedent to argue that Trump was well within his constitutional and legal bounds to elevate Whitaker over other senior Justice officials as the temporary replacement for ousted Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Whitaker, a former federal prosecutor who was working as Sessions’ chief of staff before getting the promotion to become the nation’s top law enforcement official, has already drawn lawsuits and congressional scrutiny over his conflicts of interest and because he hasn’t been confirmed for any current Justice position. But Steven Engel, the head of DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel, argued in the new memo that the Justice Department has previously leaned on the same law Trump used — the Vacancies Reform Act — to depart from its own succession plans.”
–Darren Samuelsohn, “DOJ defends Trump’s acting A.G. appointment in memo,” Politico, November 14, 2018 10:34 am