The Patriot Post® · Dems Attack Whitaker to Delegitimize Trump
Sufferers of Trump Derangement Syndrome live in a world that is in a constant state of turmoil. They cannot seem to defeat the president’s plans or stymie his agenda through traditional politics and policy debate, so they must delegitimize everything he does — even his victory to win the office he holds.
The battle over the position of attorney general is a perfect example. Leftists and their media lackeys never had any love for Jeff Sessions as AG until Trump fired him after the midterms. Now all Democrats and Never-Trumpers see is a constitutional crisis.
Congressional Democrats claim that removing Sessions is Trump’s first move in an attempt to crush Robert Mueller’s investigation. They have demanded documentation regarding the Sessions firing and are calling on anyone related to the investigation to preserve their documents. They have also gone on the attack against Matthew Whitaker, the man Trump chose as acting attorney general to replace Sessions. Whitaker has made assertions in the past as a CNN commentator that the Mueller investigation would be treading on dangerous ground if it went after Trump family members and their finances. From these statements, Democrats believe that Whitaker will be Trump’s hatchet man to fire Mueller and end the investigation once and for all.
As with all things Trump, Democrats are attempting to delegitimize Whitaker, and their plan is two-fold. The first part involves Whitaker’s background and qualifications to take the job. Whitaker, who served as AG John Ashcroft’s chief of staff in the Bush White House, was appointed a United States attorney for the Southern District of Iowa in 2004. This would indicate that he has at least some level of legal savvy as well as experience on the bureaucratic workings of the Justice Department.
The Washington Post reports that Whitaker is under scrutiny for bringing charges against a state senator who allegedly used his office to extort $2,000 from a local company. The Post stated that the senator, Matt McCoy, believed Whitaker was motivated to come after him because he was a homosexual Democrat.
Whitaker could have also been motivated by the fact that McCoy was actually breaking the law. It wasn’t the only time that the Iowa legislator has been accused of abusing his office. But McCoy is crying victim, and the media is rolling him out on cue to go after Whitaker.
Speaking of abuse of power, Whitaker has also been accused of using his position as a former U.S. attorney while working on the advisory board of World Patent Marketing, a company targeted by the Federal Trade Commission for defrauding its clients. Whitaker allegedly sent threatening emails to a man complaining about the company, prominently mentioning his former role with the Justice Department.
The second part of the Left’s plan to discredit Whitaker focuses on whether Trump has the legal authority to appoint him as acting attorney general. As one might suspect, Democrats and Republicans are arriving at completely different conclusions after reading the same laws. The argument against the appointment claims that since Whitaker’s prior position as Sessions’s chief of staff did not require Senate confirmation, then he cannot assume the role of AG, which does require the Senate’s advice and consent.
Arguments for the appointment refer to the Vacancies Reform Act, which states that the president has the power to appoint someone to temporarily fill the top position without Senate confirmation so long as they have served in the same agency in a key capacity for at least 90 days. Democrats hope to make the case that even if Trump has the power to appoint Whitaker, he shouldn’t because Whitaker is a flawed candidate. But just in case this two-pronged strategy doesn’t work, Senate Democrats are also threatening to sue Trump over the whole affair. Some legal experts, however, don’t think the suit will go anywhere because Democrats cannot show they have been harmed by Whitaker, which is key to bringing a lawsuit in the first place.
The key to remember in this latest battle is that, for now, Whitaker is in place as the acting AG, emphasis on “acting.” Trump has not claimed him to be Sessions’s permanent replacement. It may be that if Whitaker is able to serve with distinction in his current role, Trump may present him as a nominee to the Senate as permanent AG at some point over the next few months. Since Republicans control the chamber, confirmation shouldn’t be too difficult.
We should have no illusions, however, that there is some magic candidate out there for attorney general with whom the Democrats will be comfortable. Symptoms of Trump Derangement Syndrome include inability to think logically, constant misery over decisions made by the opposition, and a complete disregard for what is good for the country.