Legal, Ethical Challenges Mount for Acting Attorney General

Government Executive: An array of critics of acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker are using legal machinery to challenge him on multiple fronts, from the constitutionality of his appointment by President Trump, to the secrecy around his financial disclosure forms, to his refusal to recuse himself from decisions affecting Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. elections.

On Monday, three Democratic senators filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia saying the Nov. 7 appointment of Whitaker following Trump’s firing of Attorney General Jeff Sessions violates the Constitution’s Appointments Clause because Whitaker, in serving as a principal federal officer, has never been confirmed by the Senate.

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