Trump attacked over acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker — by Republicans

Mary Papenfuss

When Chris Wallace’s interview with Donald Trump airs Sunday on Fox News the president is going to be attacked over Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker from a surprising source: Republicans.

Republicans for the Rule of Law, a group of high-profile conservatives, is running a 30-second ad in Washington D.C. during Trump’s interview criticizing Whitaker, picked by Trump to head the Department of Justice after the president forced out Jeff Sessions.

The ad calls for Whitaker to recuse himself from the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller into possible Russian collusion by Trump’s presidential campaign because of Whitaker’s past statements deriding the probe. “America needs an attorney general who doesn’t play politics,” the ad warns.

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The same ad ran Wednesday during Trump’s favorite morning program, “Fox & Friends.”

Whitaker “cannot be trusted to fairly oversee” Mueller’s investigation,” said a statement sent by the organization to Huffpost. “Having publicly and repeatedly prejudged Robert Mueller’s investigation, Whitaker has given us ... every reason to believe he will be guided by President Trump’s interests rather than the country’s.”

Critics fear that Trump chose Whitaker to shut down Mueller’s probe.

The Republican groups has previously spoken out to protect the Mueller investigation. “Interfering in the special counsel’s investigation will hurt the president, hurt the GOP and hurt the country,” said an earlier ad. But Whitaker’s appointment has reignited the fight.

The group is part of the organization Defending Democracy Together, launched earlier this year by Republicans including Bill Kristol, founder of the conservative Weekly Standard, and former New Jersey governor Christine Todd Whitman. The organization’s stated mission is to protect the “integrity” of the election process, federal agencies and the Republican Party, and to “fight for” the “rule of law, free trade and expanding legal immigration.”

Last week another Republican group challenging Trump was launched by George Conway — husband of White House adviser Kellyanne Conway — called Checks and Balances.

The group supports “the rule of law,” the ”independence of the criminal justice system,” a free press and civil discourse “regardless of the party or persons in power,” the group said in a statement.

  • This article originally appeared on HuffPost.

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