Acting Attorney General Questioned About Adelson Wire Act Ties

Matthew Whitaker, Acting US Attorney General, said on Friday that nothing “corrupt” occurred when the Department of Justice suddenly changed an eight-year-old legal interpretation in a way that clearly benefited President Donald Trump’s biggest political donor, casino oligarch Sheldon Adelson.

During a House Judiciary Committee hearing, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) asked Whitaker whether he was involved in the January decision of the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel to alter an established legal interpretation of the Federal Wire Act in order to further limit online gambling and whether he had any communications with Adelson or any of the billionaire’s lobbyists.

Whitaker said that he was not involved in the decision and that he has never personally met with or spoken to Adelson.

“Your inference that somehow that process was corrupted or corrupt is absolutely wrong and the premise of your question I reject,” the acting attorney general said.

Raskin was not satisfied with Whitaker’s answers. “This definitely bears further investigation,” Raskin said. “When and where and by whom remains to be seen.”

More about the Attorney General and Sheldon Adelson Wire Act ties at Huffington Post