ATTORNEY GENERAL/DEMS/LEGAL/NOMINATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “President Donald Trump’s appointment of Matthew Whitaker as acting U.S. attorney general on Nov. 7 drew another legal challenge on Monday [11-19-18], this time by three Democratic senators. Senators Richard Blumenthal, Sheldon Whitehouse and Mazie Hirono sued Whitaker and Trump, asking for a court order stating the appointment violated the U.S. Constitution by denying the Senate its right to approve the acting attorney general’s nomination. They also asked that Whitaker be blocked from performing the duties of the office. The senators’ lawsuit joins at least two other legal challenges to Whitaker’s appointment, including one filed by the state of Maryland on Nov. 13. Trump appointed Whitaker on Nov. 7 after ousting Jeff Sessions, who the president had repeatedly criticized for recusing himself from overseeing Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into possible collusion in the 2016 U.S. election between the Trump campaign and Russia. Trump has repeatedly called the investigation a ‘witch hunt.’”
–Reuters, “Explainer: Was Trump’s Appointment of Whitaker Lawful?,” The New York Times online, November 19, 2018