Whitaker: Who Will Watch The Watcher?
Trevor K. McNeil
How Did This Happen?
It seems there never was an ancient Chinese proverb “may you live in interesting times.” A pity; because rarely has it applied more than now. The term “post-truth” was coined for the age of Trump but has moved quickly past “alternative facts” and “post truth” to the point of “post-irony.”
Life is Theater
“Post irony” is a descriptor used to refer to a type of comedy in which the line between the performer and their character is intentionally blurred. I can think of no better way to describe Trump’s America. It is also a way to explain what happened in the aftermath of the most electrifying Midterm election in American history.
Error Upon Error
King Trump finally made good on his long simmering threat to fire AG Jeff Sessions. True to form Trump managed to create more problems for himself and his administration by his new appointee choice. “Now how could that happen?” you ask, with a barely concealed smile. “By appointing a successor illegally,” I say, minus the smile.
Intent to Obstruct
This is not how it is supposed to work. By law and established norms Rod Rosenstein should have been next in line for the appointment. Numerous legal pundits are claiming Trump acted “unconstitutionally” by appointing Mathew Whitaker to succeed Sessions at the Justice Department, even if only “temporarily.” Whitaker had been Jeff Sessions’ chief of staff. He had never been confirmed by the Senate for such a primary job.
Please Repeat
What’s his Name Again? Matthew Whitaker, Matthew Whitaker, Matthew Whitaker, keep repeating it, like the license plate on the fleeing car after a hit and run, so you don’t forget it.
Out of the Shadows
Most of Trump’s appointees have been famous or infamous, in one way or another. Initially, Matthew Whitaker appeared to be a nobody, who came out of nowhere. Some suggested the “mafia enforcer” listings of central casting. To me; more an “over-buffed” steroid abuser.
Past Behavior
Looking at Trump’s recent track record, Whitaker’s relative obscurity could well have been an intentional move, particularly after a rolling round of scandals and brew-ha-ha surrounding Trump associates and appointees. Such strategic thinking was quickly dispelled as Whitaker’s life has come under intense scrutiny.
Hiding in Plain Sight
Not 24 hours had passed before the NY Times published an Op Ed by George Conway III (well-known DC attorney and Kellyanne Conway’s hubby) and Neal Katyal (former Solicitor General and esteemed constitutional law expert). The Times piece questioned the constitutionality of Whitaker’s appointment. The state of Maryland later asked a Federal judge to invalidate the appointment and install Rosenstein “acting” AG.
Just Give Us a Couple Minutes
By the time the Conway-Katyal Op Ed hit the streets the skeletons in Whitaker’s closet had started rattling and clattering ominously. The elevation of Mathew Whitaker to replace the fired Sessions has brought new and intense scrutiny to his writings, his speeches, his tweets, and comments made by him as a cable news commentator.
World Patent Marketing
Whitaker’s involvement with World Patent Marketing may lead to criminal charges. *In May 2018 World Patent Marketing was ordered by a federal court in Florida to pay a settlement of more than $25 million to defrauded clients and shutter their operations. There are continuing investigations into the actions of multiple board members.
Federal Court Filings
When Whitaker was appointed to the board of WPM a press release touted his former position as a U.S. Attorney in Iowa. The promotional literature claimed Whitaker was there to *“help investors avoid patent marketing fraud.” Instead Whitaker later used his position as a former U.S. attorney to intimidate complainants.
FACT
Matthew Whitaker has also run the conservative watchdog group the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust. The only provable intent of the group was to lodge numerous ethics complaints and demands for investigations, targeting Hillary Clinton, and Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland.
In the Eye of the Beholder
In a May 2017 Op-Ed in the Hill Whitaker declared *“Hollow calls for independent prosecutors are just craven attempts to score points and serve the public in no measurable way.” Less than a month later in a radio interview Whitaker defended the Trump firing of Comey this way, “There is no criminal obstruction of justice charge to be had here (against Trump”).
Starve the Investigations
Whitaker in a televised interview in 2017, Whitaker said, “I could see a scenario where Jeff Sessions is replaced, it would be a recess appointment and that Attorney General doesn’t fire Mueller but he just reduces his budget so low that his investigation grinds to almost a halt.”
August 2017 CNN published an Op-Ed in which Mathew Whitaker opined that the Special Counsel investigation was at risk of becoming a “witch hunt.” Whitaker went on to predict, “it would be dangerously close to crossing a red line if he looked into Trump’s finances”. In contrast to most experts Whitaker stated his belief that Mueller was “not given broad, far-reaching powers” to conduct the probe.
Meetings Schmeetings
Matthew Whitaker in another CNN show defended Donald Trump Jr., for taking the infamous Trump Tower meeting in May of 2016. The decision to meet with a Russian lawyer working for the Russian government offering dirt on Hillary Clinton Whitaker said, “You would always take the meeting.”
Conservative Christian
The troubling issues surrounding Matthew Whitaker’s appointment keeps growing. In a 2014 debate Whitaker was asked his requirements for appointing judges. He responded with the following, “I’d like to see things like their worldview, what informs them. Are they people of faith? Do they have a biblical view of justice?…which I think is very important.” At which point the moderator inquired, “Levitical or New Testament?”
“New Testament,” was the quick response. “And what I know is as long as they have that (Christian) worldview, I know that they will be a good judge. And if they have a secular worldview, then I’m going to be very concerned about how they judge.”
Past Asinine
Whitaker has stated Marbury vs Madison was the worst Supreme Court decision in history. My first concern was how Whitaker would handle the Mueller probe. Now, after a review of his background I am now outraged that an extremist crackpot has become Attorney General of the United States. Not only does the separation of Church and State make his comments asinine, it is a show of severe bias that will come back to bite him if he ever tries to put it into practice.
Opposition to Marbury
Beyond saying he does not trust “secular” judges and would not support their nomination, furthermore he has declared his belief that the judiciary itself is an “inferior branch” of government. Whitaker in a comment made during his failed Iowa senatorial run in 2014 cited Marbury vs Madison as “one of the worst decisions in Supreme Court history”.
WTH?
For any lawyer charged with the running DOJ to disagree with Marbury is like Neil degrasse Tyson denouncing Einstein. Marbury is the foundation of United States Constitutional law. In the 1803 decision Chief Justice John Marshall declared that the Supreme Court possessed the ultimate power to interpret the Constitution and determine the legitimacy of Congressional legislation and Executive action.
Not A Constitutional Scholar
Whitaker also has apparently not read the constitution all that carefully, either in terms of the letter of the document or the spirit. Through the Constitution the Founding Fathers divided the new government into three equal parts, the Executive, Legislative and Judiciary, and each was to have equal status.
Founders
The three anchors of Constitutional government would hopefully hold each other in check, specifically to avoid the sort of absolute power of a president, behaving as a king, who would abuse his delegated powers. It appears from Whitaker’s comments he subscribes to the notion of an imperial presidency.
Veteran’s Major Target Of Whitaker Scam
The optics of this reckless, apparently lawless appointment is embarrassingly self-serving for Trump. An extremist with views compatible with a criminal kingpin. To make the visuals of this folly even worse, Whitaker has been appointed at a time when he is under investigation by the FBI for his connection to the now defunct World Patent Marketing. Many of the victims of the World Patent Marketing scam were veterans. World Patent Marketing swindled veterans and others of their life-savings.
I love My Veterans
Hopefully American veterans and service people have watched Trump over the last couple weeks. No matter what he says service people, he just doesn’t love you like he claims. If he did he would not have given the VA over to a team from the Mar-a-Lago dinner crowd.
Who Will Watch the Watcher?
In an instance that could serve as a go-to definition of irony, Whitaker has been put in charge of the Muller investigation, despite the fact that there are recordings of him saying he does not believe there was collusion, describing it as “ludicrous”. The sort of flagrant bias exhibited by Whitaker would disqualify someone as a potential juror. We should use no less a criteria for the highest cop in the land. Trump overlooked the most basic of qualifications when he tapped Whitaker for the AG position. Apparently Trump had seen Whitaker on television and liked the cut of his alt-right bias. Most particularly that part about imperial presidency and “no collusion”.
Sources: *Washington Post (11-8-2018) Carol D. Leong Rosalind S. Helderman and Robert O’Harrow,jr
*Washington Post (11-8-2018) Opinion Ruth Marcus
*The Hill (May 2017)
*CNN July 2017
