Today Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky released the following statement after President Trump ousted his Attorney General Jeff Sessions and replaced him with Matthew Whitaker a day after the midterm election:
“Jeff Sessions was a disastrous choice to lead our Department of Justice. From the day his nomination was announced, I opposed it. His views on voting rights, criminal justice, and his checkered and racist history made him completely unfit to hold the position of our nation’s top law enforcement official. None of that is relevant today.
“President Trump has forced out his Attorney General with a single objective in mind: to tamper with Robert Mueller’s investigation into 2016 election interference and the Trump campaign’s collusion. Matthew Whitaker has publicly called for the Trump Administration to strategically slow down and block the Mueller probe from carrying out its duties. It is clear why President Trump hand-chose him. I call on Mr. Whitaker to recuse himself from overseeing the investigation immediately.
“No foreign power should be able to undermine an American’s right to vote, no American who colludes with a foreign power to do so should go unpunished, and no one – not even a sitting President – should be above the law. We must act now to preserve our democracy and find out the truth about Mr. Trump. Last night Americans voted out a Republican House that refused to hold the Administration accountable and voted in Democrats who will faithfully carry out our oversight duty. Anyone who participates in covering up, terminating, or otherwise silencing the Mueller investigation will be held to account by the incoming House of Representatives.”
“President Trump is clearly terrified of what Robert Mueller’s investigation will find. The President needs to know that House Democrats will do whatever it takes to find out the truth. The American public deserves no less.”