Acting AG Whitaker Says Mueller Probe "Close To Being Completed"

A visibly sweating acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker said late on Monday that he was briefed on special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation and that it is "close to being completed", the first public indication by the government that the probe is drawing to a close

Whitaker said the Russia investigation “is, I think, close to being completed, and I hope that we can get the report from Director Mueller as soon as possible.” Whitaker, who has previously critical of Mueller’s inquiry, made the remarks to reporters at a news conference related to charges against Chinese telecom company Huawei Technologies.

“I have been fully briefed on the investigation,” Whitaker said adding that "I look forward to Director Mueller delivering the final report." The acting AG also said that “I am comfortable that the decisions that were made are going to be reviewed.” Whitaker didn’t elaborate, but a Justice Department official said later he sought to convey that he’d follow department regulations regarding Mueller’s closing documents.

The regulations require Mueller to provide the attorney general with “a confidential report explaining the prosecution or declination decisions reached by the Special Counsel" according to Bloomberg, which clarified that Whitaker meant to say he would look at the decisions, but has no intention to try to revisit or change Mueller’s decisions.

Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware said Whitaker’s statement that decisions made in the investigation would be reviewed is “chilling,” adding he doesn’t have confidence that Whitaker will respect the independence of Mueller’s probe.

“I hope to be pleasantly surprised that he is not attempting to interfere in any way with the Mueller investigation or slow or prevent release of his report, but one could draw those inferences,” Coons said.

Whitaker’s remarks shed some light on the status of the nearly two-year-old probe into whether Trump associates aided Russia’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 U.S. election, which Trump has repeatedly called a "giant witch hunt".

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