DOJ Finds Letter Ordering Scrutiny Of Uranium One

(The Daily Beast) After it claimed no such document existed the Justice Department just unearthed a letter Matt Whitaker delivered to the Utah U.S. attorney directing a review of how the department handled the Clinton Foundation and the Uranium One issues. Then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions wrote the letter on Nov. 22 2017 for Utah U.S. Attorney John Huber. Matt Whitaker who was Sessions chief of staff at the time emailed the letter to Huber that day writing As we discussed." He also sent Huber a copy of a letter the Justice Departments Congressional affairs chief sent to the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee on Nov. 13 of that year. The existence of a letter documenting Sessions directive that the DOJ revisit probes of Trumps top political foe is a surprise because a department lawyer said in court last year that senior officials insisted it didnt exist. The liberal nonprofit American Oversight obtained the letter through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request they filed on Nov. 22 2017the same day Whitaker emailed Sessions letter to Huber. The request asked for documentation of the directions Sessions gave Huber about the review of the Clinton investigations. After DOJ failed to produce any written directions American Oversight sued. And on Nov. 16 2018 Senior Counsel in the Office of Information Policy Vanessa Brinkmann who handles FOIA Requests said a lawyer in Sessions office told her no such letter existed. That lawyer spoke with Huber and Whitaker she said in a declaration filed in federal court and then told her that when the Attorney General directed Mr. Huber to evaluate these matters no written guidance or directives were issued to Mr. Huber in connection with this directive either by the Attorney General or by other senior leadership office staff."