last few weeks wanting to know why more wasn t done to control prosecutors from bringing hush money charges that implicated the president. whitaker is who president trump personally appointed to oversee mueller. trump passed over other high-ranking officials when he made the pick. though an ethics official said there s at least an appearance of a conflict of interest and would suggest whitaker recuse himself from the probe, whitaker isn t planning to do that. laura jarrett has more on that. reporter: new details on matt whitaker s role in overseeing the russia investigation. after he rejected the advice of justice department ethics officials who said he should step aside. whitaker, who has never been briefed on the mueller investigation, is expected to start getting updates now that he isn t recusing himself. however, whitaker was given a heads-up. the president trump s former attorney michael cohen would plead guilty before it was
updates now that he isn t recusing himself. however he was given a heads up, president trump s former attorney michael cohen would plead guilty before it was publicly announced. meanwhile, the deputy attorney general promised the investigation would continue to be managed properly. we have continued to manage the investigation as we have in the past and it s being handled appropriately. rosenstein s office will continue to manage the investigation day-to-day but whitaker can block any cig any cabot steps mueller wants to take for now. an investigation that he long criticized. he doesn t fire bob mueller but he reduces the budget so low his investigation grinds to almost a halt. even echoing president trump s words saying the special counsel investigation could become a quote, witch hunt in a cnn op-ed last year. his decision not to recuse himself explained in a letter sent to lawmakers saying that an
justice department ethics officials, who said he should step aside. whitaker, who has never been preferred on the mueller investigation, is expected to start getting updates now that he isn t recusing himself. however, whitaker was given a heads up, that president trump s former attorney, michael cohen, would plead guilty, before it was publicly announced. meanwhile, deputy attorney general rod rosenstein promised the investigation would continue to be managed properly. we ve continued to manage the investigation as we have in the past. and it is being handled appropriately. reporter: rosenstein s office will continue to manage the special counsel investigation day to day, but whitaker can block any significant steps mueller wants to take. for now. an investigation that whitaker long criticized before joining the justice department. that attorney general doesn t fire bob mueller but he just reduces the budget so low, that his investigation grinds to almost a halt. even echoing
mulvaney and jared kushner just left a meeting. but let us turn now to president trump getting his way on a different issue. he now clearly has an attorney general who is managing special counsel robert mueller and the russia investigation, who is very skeptical of the russia investigation itself. acting attorney general matt whitaker has ignored calls for him to recuse himself, even rejecting advice from justice department ethics officials to do so. though he didn t ask for their recommendation. cnn s laura jarrett explains what this might mean for mueller and the russia investigation. reporter: new details today on acting attorney general, matt whitaker s role in overseeing the russia investigation. after he rejected the advice of justice department ethics officials, who said he should step aside. whitaker, who has never been briefed on the mueller investigation, is expected to start getting updates now that he isn t recusing himself. however, whitaker was given a
about l.l.p. whatever study s being done there, that will be open and transparent, will it not? we will do so and, look, i have some doubts about that program. the committee believes in that program. we ll talk about it and before you this is key. we wanted to dip in. on the left side was attorney general jeff sessions, who was being questioned by senator leahy from vermont. what we caught was the a.g. answering a question about he wasn t commenting as part of his answer, the question about why he isn t recusing himself from this new york case regarding the president s personal attorney, michael coaten. and jennifer to you on the michael cohen case, federal prosecutors in manhattan have said the investigation into