Matthew Whitaker reacts to Ukraine call transcript's release
Matthew Whitaker reacts to Ukraine call transcript's release
Former Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker criticized what he called a "dangerous precedent" set by Democrats who demanded the release of a transcript of President Trump's phone call with Ukraine's new leader.
Whitaker, who served in the interim between former Attorney General Jeff Sessions and current officeholder William Barr, told Sean Hannity Wednesday on "Hannity" the release was precipitated by "false accusations by political opponents."
"It makes it very difficult for the president of the United States to have a conversation about all the things that he needs to talk about under Article II with other world leaders to run the business of the United States of America," he said.
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"This president will continue to advance American interests and have those conversations, but it does set a really dangerous precedent that these transcripts are going to have to ultimately be released because of false accusations by political opponents."
To that effect, Hannity asked Whitaker whether he believed the transcripts revealed illicit activity on the part of Trump.
"Not only did I not see anything that was illegal, but the Department of Justice looked at this issue about this phone call and determined there was nothing that was illegal about this conversation and its not even close," he said.
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Scrutiny of Trump's conversation with the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was sparked by an unidentified whistleblower, who reportedly accused the president of making a "promise" to a foreign leader.
"The phone call is kind of a world away from what we were told it was going to be," Fox News contributor Tammy Bruce said earlier Wednesday on Fox Nation. "We were told it was a quid-pro-quo...but, in reality, it seems very different than that...We're all kind of smiling here with some of these developments."
Fox News' Yael Halon contributed to this report.
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