Top Democrats have put pressure on acting US Attorney General Matthew Whitaker to step aside from overseeing a special counsel probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election, vowing to order him to testify early next year.
Representative Jerrold Nadler, the expected incoming chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said Sunday the committee plans to subpoena Whitaker to testify next year as its first witness.
"He should recuse himself. He has expressed total hostility to the investigation," Mr Nadler said on ABC News show This Week. "His appointment is simply part of an attack on the investigation by Robert Mueller."
In a letter to the Justice Department's chief ethics officer, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi and other top Democrats advised Whitaker to recuse himself from overseeing Special Counsel Mueller's probe.
"Allowing a vocal opponent of the investigation to oversee it will severely undermine public confidence in the Justice Department's work on this critically important matter," the letter said.
Democrats have also questioned if Whitaker was properly appointed to the position.
"If he doesn't recuse himself, if he has any involvement whatsoever in this Russia probe, we are going to find out whether he made commitments to the president about the probe, whether he is serving as a back channel to the president or his lawyers about the probe, whether he is doing anything to interfere with the probe," said Adam Schiff, presumed chair of the House Intelligence Committee, on NBC's Meet the Press.
A major demonstration was held in New York last week to protest against the appointment of Mr Whitaker, who protesters say has "a conflict of interest".
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Democrats have increasingly expressed alarm since last week,when President Donald Trump ordered Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign and replaced him with Whitaker, Sessions' chief of staff.
Sessions' exit paved the way for Whitaker to take over oversight of Mueller's investigation from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller in May 2017 after Sessions recused himself from the probe.
Prior to working at the Justice Department, Whitaker made multiple negative comments about the Mueller investigation and its scope.
In addition, Whitaker is also a close friend of Trump's 2016 election campaign co-chair Sam Clovis, who has since become a witness in Mueller's investigation.
"Mr Whitaker's relationship with Mr Clovis, who is a grand jury witness in the special counsel investigation, as well as Mr Whitaker's other entanglements, raise additional concerns about his ability to supervise the investigation independently and impartially," the letter said.
Kellyanne Conway, Counselor to the president, defended Whitaker's oversight of the probe when asked about it on ABC's This Week.
"Comments that Matt Whitaker made as a private citizen on cable TV does not disqualify him from being fair and impartial by overseeing this investigation."
She added that Trump is "100 percent behind Matt Whitaker."
