JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/ROBERT MUELLER/RUSSIA INVESTIGATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Justice Department on Wednesday [11-14-18] defended the legality of President Donald Trump’s appointment of Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general to replace the ousted Jeff Sessions, rejecting the views of critics that the move ran afoul of the U.S. Constitution and federal law. A legal opinion sent to the White House by the department’s Office of Legal Counsel concluded that Whitaker’s appointment as the chief U.S. law enforcement official was allowed under a 1998 law called the Federal Vacancies Reform Act even though he was not a Senate-confirmed official. Democrats, some legal experts and the state of Maryland – which went to court on Tuesday to challenge the appointment – have said Trump violated the so-called Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution because the job of attorney general is a ‘principal officer’ who must be appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. Whitaker, a Trump loyalist, assumed authority over the ongoing investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into Russia’s role in the 2016 U.S. election – a probe that has led to criminal charges against several former Trump aides – after the Republican president forced Sessions to resign a week ago.”
-Reuters, “Justice Department Calls Trump Appointment of Whitaker Lawful,” The New York Times online, November 14, 2018