In other Trump related sleaze today...

House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler told reporters Wednesday that former Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker “did not deny” that President Trump called him to discuss the Michael Cohen case and personnel decisions in the Southern District of New York.

  The Daily Beast

And that, my dears, is a big no-no. Sitting very near obstruction of justice, which is a favorite thing for Trump to do.

The two met because Nadler had asked Whitaker to clarify comments he made in front of the committee last month.

During that testimony, Nadler said publicly Whitaker refused to answer specific questions about whether he discussed Cohen’s case in the Southern District of New York with Trump and to what extent he had spoken about Cohen generally with Trump.

[...]

Following their closed-door meeting on Wednesday, Nadler said Whitaker was involved in conversations about the Southern District of New York and “whether to fire one or more U.S. attorneys.”

Whitaker doesn't want to go to prison for lying to Congress. I think we all knew that about him as well

Nadler also said that Whitaker was also involved in conversations about the recusal of U.S. attorney Geoffrey Berman and “whether the Southern District went too far in pursuing the campaign finance case in which the president was listed as Individual Number 1,” Nadler said.

My, my, my. As acting AG, did Whitaker not know how improper this all was? He does strike me as kind of stupid.

“We disagree with Representative Nadler’s characterization of the conversation,” said a DOJ official who was in the room.

That's not surprising.

“Consistent with his prior testimony, Mr. Whitaker said that he couldn’t discuss private conversations with the president … and that the president never directed him to do anything to affect that investigation.”

[...]

Another DOJ official briefed on the conversation said Whitaker responded to multiple questions by saying he couldn’t discuss his talks with Trump.

Is Jerry calling that non-denial? Or why did he say Whitaker did talk with Trump?

Only a few people were in the room: Nadler; the committee’s top Republican, Rep. Doug Collins; DOJ lawyers; and staff for Nadler and Collins. No transcript of the meeting was produced.

So we just get a he said - he said reading. Don't mind us. We're just the citizens of this country who want government to behave according to the law.

Collins concurred with the view the DOJ official shared.

[...]

“I think that is [Nadler’s] interpretation of what he said,” Collins continued, according to the paper. “Mr. Whitaker said he did not have conversations with the president about Cohen. ... If Mr. Nadler chooses to say by absence of what he didn’t say and that is how he is interpreting that, then Mr. Nadler will have to answer to that,” he continued.

[...]

“In fact, he said he never talked with the president about Mr. Cohen at all and no conversation with the Southern District of New York either,” Collins told reporters after the meeting, according to The Hill.

Am I supposed to believe a Republican these days?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:



That's as open to interpretation as any of Whitaker's dodges.  This DOJ probably thinks there's such a thing as proper influence.