Democrats Seek Emergency Meeting To Protect Mueller Probe From Acting US Attorney General

Democrats on the US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee fired off letters to the panel's Republican chairman and acting US Attorney General Matthew Whitaker demanding an emergency hearing followed by an new investigation of purported Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, the panel's ranking Democrat Jerrold Nadler said in a press release on Thursday.

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 08th November, 2018) Democrats on the US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee fired off letters to the panel's Republican chairman and acting US Attorney General Matthew Whitaker demanding an emergency hearing followed by an new investigation of purported Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, the panel's ranking Democrat Jerrold Nadler said in a press release on Thursday.

"The forced firing of Attorney General [Jeff] Sessions appears to be part of an ongoing pattern of behavior by the President seeking to undermine investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election," Judiciary Committee Democrats stated in separate letters to Chairman Bob Goodlatte and to Whitaker.

Judiciary Committee Democrats also called on Goodlatte "to hold emergency hearings in order to investigate the circumstances of Attorney General Sessions' firing and to ensure that Special Counsel [Robert] Mueller's investigation was free to continue unhindered and without interference from the White House."

On Wednesday, Trump named Whitaker, a critic of the Muller probe, as acting US Attorney General after Sessions resigned.

Nadler, who will take over as Judiciary Committee chair in the next Congress after Democrats won a majority of seats in Tuesday's midterm elections, also telegraphed a possible agenda by accusing President Donald Trump of undermining the Russia investigation with Whitaker's appointment and with actions throughout his presidency.

"These actions include, among other things: (i) attempting to end the FBI's investigation of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn;[1] (ii) firing FBI Director James Comey because of 'this Russia thing';[2] (iii) distorting the facts in the response to revelations that senior members of the Trump campaign met with Russian operatives at Trump Tower prior to the election;[3] (iv) repeatedly threatening to fire Special Counsel Mueller;[4] and (v) recklessly threatening to selectively disclose classified information relating to the investigation.[5]," the release said.

On Wednesday, Democrats in both chambers of Congress unleashed a Twitter storm following Whitaker's appointment, warning of a constitutional crisis, threatening Trump with impeachment and demanding that Whitaker immediately recuse himself from the Mueller probe.

Trump, meanwhile, continues to call the Mueller probe into allegations of Russian collusion with the Trump campaign a "witch hunt" and points out the investigation has produced no evidence in well over a year.

Moscow repeatedly said Russia did not interfere in the US political system and the allegations have been invented to excuse the election loss of a presidential candidate as well as deflect public attention from actual instances of election fraud and corruption.