BY PRIYANKA ARIBINDI, BRIAN BEUTLER 

& CROOKED MEDIA

Friday, February 8, 2019

—The late Rep. John Dingell (D-MI)

HOSTILE WHITNESS

Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker provided inconsistent testimony about his corrupt relationship with President Trump and Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation to the House Judiciary Committee on Friday, all but guaranteeing that he will be subpoenaed and possibly find himself legal jeopardy after he leaves the Justice Department next week.

The best Whitaker could offer committee Democrats is an assertion that he has not meddled with the Mueller investigation, and has not briefed Trump or anyone in the White House on it or other investigations implicating Trump.

But those answers weren’t credible—it’s Matthew Whitaker!—and his other answers point to real wrongdoing that he is probably going to have to answer for at some point.

• Whitaker did divulge that in 2017 he interviewed with White House Counsel Don McGahn for a job that would have made him the White House’s top Russia probe lawyer, but claimed that in the interview, the subject matter of the investigation never came up. Weird job interview! Also weird that Whitaker declined to recuse himself from the Mueller investigation he was almost hired to litigate against.

• He refused to expound upon his recent claim that Mueller’s investigation is nearing its conclusion.

• Though Trump has not asserted executive privilege, Whitaker also refused to answer any questions about conversations he's had with Trump and White House officials since he joined the administration in 2017, including about the Mueller investigation and other criminal investigations of the president.

• He declined to defend the Mueller investigation from Trump’s claim that it’s a “witch hunt,” and struggled to bring himself to admit that Mueller is an honest person.

Whitaker acted like an insolent asshole throughout the hearing, mostly by drawing out lengthy, rambling answers to yes-or-no questions. At one point he tried to duck a question from the committee’s chairman, Jerry Nadler, by telling Nadler his five minutes were up.

But he may come to regret stonewalling. Nadler informed Whitaker that the committee will call him in for a sworn interview in the near future, at which point he will either have to answer the questions he refused to answer today, assert executive privilege, or face subpoena. If Whitaker flouts subpoenas, he could face professional consequences. If he lied under oath today, he could face legal consequences. And if Trump insists on asserting executive privilege he’ll end up in court defending his right to shield his efforts to meddle in criminal investigations of himself from the public.

Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax (D-VA) faces a second sexual assault accusation, this one from Meredith Watson, a former Duke University classmate of Fairfax’s who says he raped her in 2000. Watson says Fairfax assaulted her in much the same manner that he allegedly assaulted Dr. Vanessa Tyson, who issued a detailed account of her encounter with Fairfax earlier this week. According to a spokesperson, Watson does not seek litigation or compensation—”she has been concerned and angered by what she’s been reading about another victim so she decided to tell her story.”

Fairfax claims both allegations are part of a coordinated smear and is calling for an investigation into them while asserting that he will not resign. Virginia’s previous Governor Terry McAuliffe has called for Fairfax’s resignation.

No, not *that* thing.

Federal prosecutors in New York are investigating whether the National Enquirer’s attempt to extort Jeff Bezos over his dick pics was illegal, and, thus, violated the terms of its publisher’s immunity deal. These prosecutors agreed not to prosecute the Enquirer’s parent company, American Media Inc., in exchange for the company’s cooperation in the investigation of hush money payments Trump and Michael Cohen made to Trump’s former mistresses through CEO David Pecker. A source close to the Enquirer told CNN that the tabloid’s similar efforts to blackmail people will “all come out now.”

The Supreme Court has temporarily blocked a Louisiana abortion law that would’ve left the state with only one doctor eligible to perform the procedure, because the law conflicts with recent Supreme Court precedent. Chief Justice John Roberts joined the liberal justices pending a ruling on the merits of the law itself, when he’s more likely that he will side with the Court’s conservatives to overturn the precedent. Brett Kavanaugh, who lied to everyone about his plans for abortion law, voted for the law to take effect.

Former Rep. John Dingell Jr. (D-MI) died Thursday at the age of 92. He was the longest-serving lawmaker in American history, a world-class tweeter, and left some parting words for America in the Washington Post. Read them.

Gov. Ralph Northam (D-VA) says he will not resign despite suffering a collapse in public standing in the week since his racist past came to light. His office is reportedly looking to “recalibrate [his] legislative agenda to focus closely on race and equity.” Such “recalibration” includes reading Roots.

The Trump administration has failed to submit an obligatory report determining whether Saudi Arabia’s crown prince was responsible for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi to Congress, missing the 120-day deadline Congress imposed.

Federal prosecutors are examining new evidence that Trump’s inaugural committee overpaid for space at Trump’s DC hotel. If the committee paid above market rate for something that enriched Trump and his family, it likely violated tax laws against self-dealing.

Associate DNC chairman Jaime Harrison announced on Pod Save America that he will challenge Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) in 2020. Good.

Ahead of Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s (D-MN) anticipated presidential campaign launch, HuffPost and BuzzFeed both published detailed reports about her, sourced to multiple former staffers who say she mistreated them and other aides.

Cindy McCain apologized after falsely accusing a woman at the airport with a child of a different ethnicity of child trafficking. McCain herself adopted one of her daughters from Bangladesh.

Under Trump, the EPA has inspected fewer facilities to monitor their compliance with pollution rules than at any point in the past decade.

Ivanka Trump has “zero concern” that her entire family could be heading to prison as a result of the Russia investigation, and denied that her father had any role in issuing security clearances to her or her husband/salad enthusiast Jared Kushner. She blamed the delay in Jared’s clearance on a “backlog.”

Recent reports indicate that career security officials twice recommended against giving Kushner access to classified information, but were ultimately overruled by their Trump-loyalist supervisor. So unlike a Trump to lie though.

Peak brand Twitter.

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