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Acting attorney general faces questions over speech to conservative group during shutdown
I tried to post this last night in LBN, but my computer connection was awful.
David Fahrenthold Retweeted
Top DOJ official issued message to prosecutors across country that during the #shutdown they can only perform work related to threats against life or property. Then acting Attorney General Whitaker gave a politically-tinged speech to a conservative group.
Link to tweet
Acting attorney general faces questions over speech to conservative group during shutdown
By MIKE LEVINE Jan 17, 2019, 4:08 PM ET
Some Justice Department officials are concerned that acting attorney general Matt Whitaker may have violated federal guidelines and his department's own guidance on the government shutdown by taking time on Wednesday to give a politically-tinged speech promoting Trump administration policies of little urgency. ... "I think it's deeply hypocritical," one federal prosecutor said of Whitaker's speech, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized by the Justice Department to speak publicly.
According to a message sent to U.S. prosecutors around the country last week, those deemed "excepted" and required to work through the shutdown — without a paycheck — can only perform work on matters related in some way to substantial threats against life or property. And in a memo posted online by the Justice Department last week, "ancillary functions" such as "public affairs activities and community outreach ... may be conducted only to the extent the failure to perform those functions prevents or significantly damages" department operations.
At issue are remarks Whitaker gave Wednesday to the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. The Justice Department said in a press release that the remarks were intended "to commemorate [the] 25th anniversary of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act" — a law Congress passed with near-unanimous support in 1993 to help protect worshipers' rights.
....
Wednesday's event had an undeniable political bent: The Heritage Foundation's stated mission is to "promote conservative public policies," and in introducing Whitaker, the foundation's president charged that "the political left has actively worked to undercut our freedoms," citing efforts related to abortion and other controversial matters. ... During his own remarks, Whitaker praised President Donald Trump as someone "who is standing up for the First Amendment," insisting "others" have tried to stand in the way.
"For example," Whitaker said, "we’ve seen nuns ordered to pay for contraceptives," and he noted that one U.S. senator tried to block "an evangelical Christian" from joining the Trump administration. Whitaker did not mention that the nominee – Russell Vought, now the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget — had claimed Muslims "have a deficient theology" and "stand condemned."
....
By MIKE LEVINE Jan 17, 2019, 4:08 PM ET
Some Justice Department officials are concerned that acting attorney general Matt Whitaker may have violated federal guidelines and his department's own guidance on the government shutdown by taking time on Wednesday to give a politically-tinged speech promoting Trump administration policies of little urgency. ... "I think it's deeply hypocritical," one federal prosecutor said of Whitaker's speech, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized by the Justice Department to speak publicly.
According to a message sent to U.S. prosecutors around the country last week, those deemed "excepted" and required to work through the shutdown — without a paycheck — can only perform work on matters related in some way to substantial threats against life or property. And in a memo posted online by the Justice Department last week, "ancillary functions" such as "public affairs activities and community outreach ... may be conducted only to the extent the failure to perform those functions prevents or significantly damages" department operations.
At issue are remarks Whitaker gave Wednesday to the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. The Justice Department said in a press release that the remarks were intended "to commemorate [the] 25th anniversary of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act" — a law Congress passed with near-unanimous support in 1993 to help protect worshipers' rights.
....
Wednesday's event had an undeniable political bent: The Heritage Foundation's stated mission is to "promote conservative public policies," and in introducing Whitaker, the foundation's president charged that "the political left has actively worked to undercut our freedoms," citing efforts related to abortion and other controversial matters. ... During his own remarks, Whitaker praised President Donald Trump as someone "who is standing up for the First Amendment," insisting "others" have tried to stand in the way.
"For example," Whitaker said, "we’ve seen nuns ordered to pay for contraceptives," and he noted that one U.S. senator tried to block "an evangelical Christian" from joining the Trump administration. Whitaker did not mention that the nominee – Russell Vought, now the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget — had claimed Muslims "have a deficient theology" and "stand condemned."
....
