Matt Whitaker tells Lindsey Graham that Mueller probe will proceed

Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker told Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham in a meeting on Thursday that special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation will proceed, according to a person familiar with the meeting. The meeting with Graham and Whitaker comes as a bipartisan group of senators is pushing legislation to protect Mueller’s job. The senators are concerned about Whitaker’s past criticism of the Mueller probe, which is looking at Russian interference in the 2016 election and ties to President Donald Trump’s campaign. Those concerns were only amplified after Trump appointed Whitaker as acting attorney general last week. Whitaker told Graham the investigation would be allowed to proceed, the person said. The person wasn’t authorized to speak publicly about the meeting and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and other Democrats have called for Whitaker to recuse himself from overseeing the Mueller investigation. A Justice Department spokeswoman said earlier this week that Whitaker will follow Justice Department protocols and consult with senior ethics officials “on his oversight responsibilities and matters that may warrant recusal.”

Democrats have also called for the special counsel bill to be added to a year-end spending bill that must pass in December to avoid a partial government shutdown. The bipartisan legislation, which was introduced more than a year ago, would give any special counsel a 10-day window to seek expedited judicial review of a firing and put into law existing Justice Department regulations that a special counsel can only be fired for good cause.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/nov/15/matt-whitaker-tells-lindsey-graham-robert-mueller-/

'Coward' Parkland deputy refuses to testify, files lawsuit to block subpoena

For months, members of the panel investigating Florida’s high school massacre have called the sheriff’s deputy assigned to guard the campus “a coward” for hiding and not rushing inside in an attempt to stop the shooter. Given an opportunity to confront his critics Thursday, now-retired Broward Sheriff’s Deputy Scot Peterson sent his attorney instead before the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission. Attorney Joseph DiRuzzo III told the 14-member panel he had filed a lawsuit hours earlier attempting to block their subpoena. DiRuzzo dropped a copy on the lectern and then walked away. Fred Guttenberg, whose child Jaime died along with 16 others, said to DiRuzzo as he passed: “He didn’t do his job. My daughter should be alive.”

Peterson, the longtime deputy assigned to Stoneman Douglas, has become the second-most vilified person surrounding the Feb. 14 shooting after suspect Nikolas Cruz. Security video shows Peterson arrived outside the three-story building where the killings happened shortly after the shooting began, about the same time the gunman finished slaying 11 people on the first-floor. Peterson drew his handgun, but retreated to cover next to the neighboring building. The video shows Peterson never left that spot for 50 minutes, even after other deputies and police officers arrived on campus and went inside.

Panel members have said they believe Peterson’s inaction allowed Cruz to climb to the third floor, where five students, including Jamie Guttenberg, and one teacher were killed. They believe if Peterson, 55, had confronted Cruz, who authorities say was armed with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, and engaged him in a shootout he could have killed him or given others more time to reach safety. “Other than the person sitting in a jail cell right now for murdering my daughter, the only other person who comes close to pissing me off as much is Peterson because Peterson could have saved my daughter. My daughter was the second-to-last to be shot … a few more seconds and she would be alive,” Fred Guttenberg told The Associated Press after DiRuzzo left.

Peterson, a decorated 32-year veteran of the sheriff’s office, retired shortly after the shooting rather than accept a suspension while his actions were investigated. He is now receiving a $100,000 annual pension. There had been speculation Peterson might attend the meeting but invoke the Fifth Amendment, as a criminal investigation of law enforcement’s response continues. Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, the panel’s chairman, said Thursday he wanted to ask Peterson, “Why the hell did he go hide and run away and not do his job?” Peterson told investigators shortly after the shooting and reporters last spring from the “Today” show and The Washington Post that he heard only two or three shots and didn’t know whether they were coming from inside the building. That is contradicted by radio calls in which he correctly identifies the building as the shooter’s location. Bullets also came out a window almost directly above where he took cover. About 150 shots were fired and were heard by others a quarter-mile away.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/nov/15/scot-peterson-parkland-deputy-refuses-testify/