Whitaker Clears Himself to Manage Mueller Despite Ethics Concern

Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker never asked for a formal recommendation on whether he should recuse himself from overseeing Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation and ultimately decided, along with a small group of personal advisers, that he doesn’t have to, a Justice Department official said.

The official revised an account from earlier Dec. 20 that Whitaker was told by ethics officers that he doesn’t have to recuse himself from being involved in the Mueller probe.

Instead, ethics officials at the department informed Whitaker that he didn’t have a direct conflict of interest that would obligate them to issue a formal ...