[ad_1]
WASHINGTON – Prior to joining the Department of Justice, Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker had won nearly $ 1 million from a not-for-profit right-wing organization that does not disclose its donors, according to financial disclosure forms issued on Tuesday.
The documents, published by the Department of Justice, show that Whitaker collected $ 904,000 in revenue from the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Engagement from 2016 until the end of 2017. He also received $ 15,000 from CNN as a legal commentator, according to the documents.
Several media outlets, including the Associated Press, and outside groups had asked for the documents after President Donald Trump ousted Attorney General Jeff Sessions and elevated Whitaker to the first position of the Justice Department on November 7.
The documents show that Whitaker began to revise his public revelations the day he was appointed Acting Attorney General. He revised the forms four more times, including Tuesday.
In a disclosure form, Whitaker completed his file at the Department of Justice in September 2017 and reported receiving $ 1,875 in legal fees from a company called World Patent Marketing. Whitaker has been closely scrutinized for his involvement in the company accused of misleading consumers and is currently under investigation by the FBI.
Whitaker also revealed his partial interest in a family farm located in Ely, Iowa, valued at between $ 100,000 and $ 250,000. The forms also included information on credit card debt from $ 20,000 to $ 30,000 in 2017.
The non-profit group for which Whitaker worked, known as FACT, is a non-partisan government ethical oversight body. However, its challenges and website have largely, but not exclusively, focused on Democrats and their party.
Whitaker used his role as chairman and executive director of FACT in 2016 as a platform to question the ethics of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
FACT drew its funds from 2014 to 2016 mainly from Donor's Trust, another non-profit organization designed to provide anonymity to conservative and libertarian donors.
The appointment of Whitaker has been criticized by Democrats who have challenged its constitutionality and fear to undermine the investigation led by the special advocate Robert Mueller in Russia.
Earlier Tuesday, the Senate's highest Democrat asked the Justice Department's watchdog to investigate Whitaker's communications with the White House.
Senator Charles Schumer asked the Inspector General to check whether Whitaker had access to the confidential information of the grand jury in Mueller's probe. Schumer also wants investigators to examine whether Whitaker has shared information with Trump or other people in the administration.
John Lavinsky, spokesman for the Inspector General, declined to comment on Schumer's request.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the second head of the Department of Justice, oversaw the investigation of the special advocate in Russia until Whitaker was appointed. Whitaker now oversees the investigation.
Schumer and other Democrats have expressed concern over Whitaker's criticism of the Mueller inquiry, which examines Russia's interference in the 2016 election and links to the Trump campaign.
After Whitaker's appointment, Schumer asked Whitaker to recuse himself from overseeing the investigation and said he would seek to combine a measure protecting Mueller with an unavoidable law if he refused to do so.
Whitaker's past public statements included an opinion piece in which he claimed that Mueller would step outside his mandate when he was investigating Trump's family finances. In a radio interview, he claimed that there was no evidence of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign in the 2016 elections.
Monday, three other Democratic senators – Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island – filed a lawsuit to argue that the appointment of Whitaker was unconstitutional because it had not been confirmed by the Senate. The Department of Justice issued a statement Monday stating that Whitaker's appointment was "legal".
A spokeswoman for the Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment on Schumer's request on Tuesday.
___
Jeff Donn, an Associated Press reporter, contributed to this report.
___
Read the initial publication of Matthew Whitaker's public financial information: http://apne.ws/dSroyUz
Read Matthew Whitaker's 2017 Annual Public Financial Information: http://apne.ws/tvJiBZ5
Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, disseminated, rewritten or redistributed.
[ad_2]
Source link
