The Justice Department told the House Judiciary Committee on yesterday afternoon that acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker would not appear at today's closely-watched oversight hearing unless he receives a written assurance he won't be served with a subpoena.
The threat for Whitaker not to testify came after the House Judiciary Committee voted yesterday to authorize a subpoena for Whitaker ahead of his testimony — which House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler said he would use only if Whitaker did not appear or would not answer the committee's questions, including about conversations with the White House involving special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe.
The DOJ's letter: The Justice Department, in a letter, criticized Nadler for authorizing the subpoena "even though the Committee had not yet asked him a single question" and suggested Democrats were seeking to "transform the hearing into a public spectacle."
"The committee evidently seeks to ask questions about confidential presidential communications that no attorney general could ever be expected to disclose under the circumstances," Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd wrote in the letter, obtained by CNN.
Nadler responded to the letter by telling Whitaker that a subpoena would not be necessary if he answered lawmakers' questions, and questions he would not be able to answer would be handled on a "case-by-case basis."
Read a portion of Nadler's response:
If you appear before the Committee tomorrow morning and if you are prepared to respond to questions from our Members, then I assure you that there will be no need for the Committee to issue a subpoena on or before February 8. To the extent that you believe you are unable to fully respond to any specific question, we are prepared to handle your concerns on a case-by-case basis, both during and after tomorrow’s hearing."from CNN.com - RSS Channel kalo berita gak lengkap buka link disamping https://cnn.it/2TEGppM
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