Pelosi: Whitaker appointment "does violence to the Constitution"

In an interview Friday with "Face the Nation" moderator Margaret Brennan, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said Matthew Whitaker should recuse himself from any review of the Mueller investigation because of statements he has previously made publicly about the investigation.

On Wednesday, President Trump named Whitaker acting attorney general  after Jeff Sessions resigned from the post. Whitaker had been Sessions' chief of staff at the Justice Department.

Pelosi said there is bipartisan consensus that Whitaker should never have been appointed.

"It does violence to the Constitution and the vision of our founders to appoint such a person in such a manner to be the chief legal officer in our country. And that's bipartisan," the California Democrat told Brennan.

Whitaker will replace Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in overseeing Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Leader Pelosi believes that under Whitaker's leadership, the integrity of Mueller's investigation is in peril.

When asked if special counsel Robert Mueller would be crossing a line if he started investigating the finances of Trump and his family, the president said in 2017 "I think that's a violation. Look this is about Russia."

Whitaker agrees. In television appearances and online, Whitaker had been openly critical of special counsel Robert Mueller, saying Mueller has "come up to a red line that he is dangerously close to crossing."

More from Margaret Brennan's interview of House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi will air Sunday on "Face the Nation."

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