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Senate Democrats sue over Trump's Whitaker appointment
 [Al Jazeera] Three Democratic senators filed a lawsuit on Monday accusing Donald Trump...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... of illegally appointing Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general, saying the president violated the US Constitution and denied the Senate its right to approve the nomination. The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia by Senators Richard Blumenthal, Sheldon Whitehouse and Senator Mazie Hirono, is the most high-profile litigation so far to be brought challenging Whitaker's appointment. "Americans prize a system of checks and balances, which President Trump's dictatorial appointment betrays," Blumenthal said in a statement. Whitaker took over supervision of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russia's role in the 2016 US election after Trump appointed him on November 7 as the chief US law enforcement official to replace Jeff Sessions, who the president removed. Sessions had recused himself from the probe, handing the responsibility to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who was confirmed by the Senate. Whitaker in the past criticised the scope of Mueller's probe and brought up the possibility of undermining it by slashing the special counsel's funding. The attorney general of Maryland last week brought a similar legal challenge, saying Trump violated the so-called Appointments Clause of the US Constitution because the job of attorney general is a "principal officer" who must be appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. A hearing on Maryland's legal challenge is slated for December 19. Posted by: Fred 2018-11-20 |
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