On Wednesday, before what can only be described as shameful pandering to Donald Trump in a cabinet meeting, Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker met up with Ronald Reagan's notoriously corrupt Attorney General, Edwin Meese, III for a little powwow about DOJ business and also some breakfast.
The news first broke with a tweet from AP reporter Eric Tucker who wrote that Meese told him "Whitaker told him John Huber continues his investigation into various FBI-related concerns raised in the last year by GOP lawmakers, including claims of improper surveillance."
That is wrong on so many levels. First, that they reanimated Meese. And then once the spell was cast, he was actually briefed on current and ongoing DOJ investigations, a topic so hot we had weeks and weeks of speculation about whether Loretta Lynch talked to Bill Clinton about grandkids or emails. Remember that?
MSNBC Legal Analyst and former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance jumped right on that tweet, writing, "Whitaker has to be replaced immediately. It violates DOJ rules, and could conceivably be a federal felony if grand jury material was disclosed, to brief someone outside of DOJ on an ongoing criminal investigation. Unreal."
Thursday she joined Katy Tur to discuss the problems with Whitaker downloading DOJ business to Ed Meese.
"Whitaker disclosed to [Meese] details of the ongoing DOJ investigation that involves Hillary Clinton's e-mails, whatever mismash former Attorney General Sessions managed to put together," she said. She went on to note that he should immediately be reported to the Office of Professional Responsibility for review.
"There is an even more sinister twist to this, though, and it would depend upon the content," she continued. "We don't have any reason to believe he would have disclosed information but doing that would be a criminal violation that would put this into the Inspector General's lens."
"It's really inappropriate to have a conversation with folks outside of the department about ongoing investigations. and the fact this actually has leaked out now has to open up further questions about Whitaker's conduct," she concluded.
Gee, you think??? I'm old enough to remember when a pretty public tarmac encounter turned into a days-long outcry that resulted in Loretta Lynch recusing herself from the email investigation, which led to Comey making those two fateful announcements that elected Donald Trump. And now we have Acting AG Whitaker having a cup of coffee with Edwin Effing Meese, spilling enough information that Meese thought he'd troll everyone by chatting it up with an AP reporter?
Where is the outrage? Where are the demands for Whitaker to recuse, to step down, to admit he's a corrupt POS who is there for one purpose alone: To keep Donald Trump in the loop with regard to ongoing investigations.
