Whitaker Clears Himself to Manage Mueller Despite Ethics Concern
- Acting attorney general never asked for formal recommendation
- An official earlier suggested ethics officers cleared him
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Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker decided not to recuse himself from overseeing Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation even though a Justice Department ethics official said a formal review would likely recommend a recusal, an agency official said.
Whitaker never asked for a formal ethics recommendation, deciding instead, along with a small group of personal advisers, that there was no precedent for him to recuse under these circumstances, the official said.