Thursday, November 8, 2018

No Way Matthew Whitaker Should Recuse



I was expecting some good analysis from Andrew McCarthy, and he did not disappoint. I re-read Matthew Whitaker's 2017 CNN op-ed after reading the McCarthy piece, and I think McCarthy nailed it. I can understand why those on the left who want a 24/7 investigation of Trump right up until the day he leaves office in January, 2025 would be clamoring for Whitaker to recuse himself. They would demand that from anybody Trump nominated. But recusal is meant to apply specifically to individuals who might be biased by reason of previous direct involvement in the circumstances surrounding the situation being investigated. That's why Sessions recused, and why Rosenstein, of all people, should have recused from the start. McCarthy goes into the reasons that Rosenstein is conflicted quite convincingly. You can't expect recusal simply because the individual shares opinions with the president on the generally accepted legal procedures to be followed in conducting and supervising a special counsel investigation. Of course the president is going to choose someone on the same page. Democrats would never be happy with anyone the president chose unless he chose Adam Schiff for crying out loud.

So the left can protest all it wants about the choice of Matthew Whitaker to replace Sessions. The media will have their back. But this has nothing to do with justice, if it ever did. This is all political. Trump knows this, and the gloves are off. I'm looking forward to the fireworks. The conflict at Trump's press conference yesterday that got Jim Acosta barred from the White House is a good example. It has always been a polite fiction that the press only reported the news and had no bias and no agenda. That's been bullshit from the start, and everybody knows it. It looks like Trump has decided to bring the fight out in the open and expose the press for what they are. A bunch of preening, strutting peacocks hiding behind some bogus patina of their so called objective impartiality. Mark Twain once said never pick a fight with somebody who buys ink by the barrel. But Mark Twain didn't know about Twitter or the internet. My money's on Trump.