Trump Administration Defends Whitaker Appointment as Lawful
- Government urges judge to reject Maryland bid to oust AAG
- Maryland argues president didn’t follow law with appointment
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President Donald Trump’s elevation of Matthew Whitaker to acting U.S. Attorney General was completely lawful and Maryland’s request to void the selection should be rejected, Justice Department lawyers told a federal judge.
The state is asking the court “to take the extraordinary step of unseating the presidentially designated Acting Attorney General,” lawyers for the U.S. said on Monday. Their court filing came in response to a bid by Maryland’s attorney general, Democrat Brian Frosh, to effectively disqualify Whitaker because the president failed to follow the right law in filling the vacancy created by Jeff Sessions’s forced resignation last month.