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WASHINGTON (AP) – Intensifying democratic efforts to protect the investigation in Russia, the leader of the Senate minority, Chuck Schumer, said he would seek to combine a measure protecting special advocate Robert Mueller to an imperative law if the Acting Attorney General, Matthew Whitaker, does not recuse himself from the probe.
"Democrats in the House and in the Senate will try to pass an inescapable law, primarily an expenditure law, a law that would prevent Whitaker from in any way interfere with the Mueller inquiry. Schumer told The Associated Press on Sunday.
Schumer said that keeping Whitaker in charge of the investigation would create a "constitutional crisis", and that he does not recuse himself, Democrats would insist that legislation be put in place to protect Mueller's investigation.
Schumer sent Sunday to the Justice Department a letter with minority leader in the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, and other prominent Democrats, calling on Lee Lofthus, Deputy Attorney General and Ethics Officer of the department, to reveal if he had advised Whitaker to recuse himself from the probe.
Democrats cited Whitaker's earlier public statements, which included an opinion piece in which he said Mueller would step outside his mandate when he was investigating the finances of President Donald Trump's family. In a radio interview, he claimed that there was no evidence of collusion between the "Russia and Trump" campaign in the 2016 elections.
The letter to the Department of Justice invited Lofthus to explain his reasoning for any recommendations he had made to Whitaker regarding the challenge and to provide any ethical advice provided to the Acting Attorney General.
Whitaker, a Republican Party loyalist and Chief of Staff Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has just been ousted, was promoted Wednesday after Trump forced him out.
Whitaker had to face pressure from Democrats for that he give up overseeing Mueller on the basis of comments that had been made prior to his arrival at the Department of Justice last year. He also tweeted an opinion piece from an ex-prosecutor who was describing a "crowd of Mueller's lynches", which he "deserved to be read".
"Let's face it, Whitaker is already biased," said Schumer. "He has already talked about ways to strangle the investigation, including cutting their funding."
The Mueller Protection Bill would give any special advocate 10 days to request reconsideration of a dismissal and to ensure that the person was removed for just cause.
It is not clear if the Republicans would agree to add the bill to the spending legislation. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Said it was not necessary, but other Republicans, such as Arizona Senator Jeff Flake and Maine Senator Susan Collins, have been calling for the bill since the appointment of Whitaker.
Schumer declined to say whether the Democrats would be willing to force a government to shut down if Congress did not pass a measure protecting Mueller suggesting that it would not happen there because of the fact that it was not going to happen. bipartisan support. "There is no reason why we should not add this and avoid a constitutional crisis," he told State of the Union. "If that does not happen, we'll see what happens later."
The bipartite bill on Mueller was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee in April and co-sponsored by Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Thom Tillis of North Carolina.
Jerry Nadler, representative of the United Kingdom, new chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, called Trump's appointment of Whitaker's "attack" against Mueller's investigation and said the protection of this investigation would be the top priority of his committee.
Nadler told ABC "This Week" whether Whitaker is still acting Attorney General when Nadler will become president of the judiciary next year: "One of our first agendas will be to invite and if necessary, to summon him to appear before the committee. "
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Michael Balsamo, associate editor of the Associated Press, contributed to this report.
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