November 8, 2018
Assistant Attorney General Lee J. Lofthus
Justice Management Division and
Designated Agency Ethics Official
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20530-0001
Re: Recusal of Acting Attorney General Matthew G. Whitaker
Dear Mr. Lofthus:
To ensure the integrity of the Department of Justice and its continuing commitment to the
rule of law, Acting Attorney General Matthew G. Whitaker must promptly recuse from all
Department of Justice investigations of President Donald J. Trump as well as the President’s
current and former associates, businesses, and campaign. Those matters include (but may not be
limited to):
•

The investigation being conducted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller of any links and/or
coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the
campaign of President Trump, matters that arose or may arise from that investigation, and
of obstruction of justice and other attempts to interfere with this investigation; 1 and

•

The investigation of personal income, false statement, campaign finance, and other
offenses involving Michael Cohen (the president’s former personal attorney), the Trump
Organization, and the Trump Campaign by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of
New York, including any attempts to obstruct or interfere with this investigation. 2

President Trump has been personally implicated in these two matters: he has reportedly been
identified as a subject of the special counsel investigation, 3 and in the New York matter,
1

See Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, Order No. 3915-2017, Office of the Deputy Attorney General, May
17, 2017, available at https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/967231/download; Devlin Barrett ,
Adam Entous, Ellen Nakashima, and Sari Horwitz, Special counsel is investigating Trump for possible obstruction
of justice, officials say, Washington Post, Jun. 14, 2017, available at
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/special-counsel-is-investigating-trump-for-possibleobstruction-of-justice/2017/06/14/9ce02506-5131-11e7-b064-828ba60fbb98_story.html.
2
See Michael Cohen Pleads Guilty In Manhattan Federal Court To Eight Counts, Including Criminal Tax Evasion
And Campaign Finance Violations, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, Aug. 21, 2018,
available at https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/michael-cohen-pleads-guilty-manhattan-federal-court-eightcounts-including-criminal-tax.
3
Carol D. Leonnig and Robert Costa, Mueller told Trump’s attorneys the president remains under investigation but
is not currently a criminal target, Washington Post, Apr. 3, 2018, available at
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/mueller-told-trumps-attorneys-the-president-remains-under-investigationbut-is-not-currently-a-criminal-target/2018/04/03/d7832cf0-36c1-11e8-acd5-35eac230e514_story.html.

 The Honorable Lee J. Lofthus
November 8, 2018
Page 2
President Trump’s former personal attorney, Mr. Cohen, claims that he committed criminal
campaign finance offenses at President Trump’s instruction. 4
President Trump’s Appointment of Whitaker Appears to Be Calculated to Establish
Control of Investigations that Could Implicate the President
There are alarming reports that President Trump and White House aides view Mr.
Whitaker as a dependable ally in their efforts to control investigations of the President. In
September, when Mr. Whitaker was first floated as a replacement for Deputy Attorney General
Rosenstein, the New York Times reported that White House Chief of Staff John Kelly had
privately described Mr. Whitaker “as the West Wing’s ‘eyes and ears’ in a department the
president has long considered at war with him.” 5 The Washington Post reported yesterday that
President Trump “has told advisers that Whitaker is loyal and would not have recused himself
from the investigation.” 6 The President’s expectation that Mr. Whitaker will not recuse from
these matters regardless of the outcome of his consultation with Department of Justice ethics
officials is extremely troubling.
Mr. Whitaker’s appointment in these circumstances is also unprecedented: Never before
has a President designated an acting attorney general who had not previously been serving in a
Senate-confirmed position. 7 Nor has a President ever before appointed an acting attorney general
who is on record describing the means by which the President could curtail an ongoing
investigation of the President’s conduct. In a July 26, 2017 appearance on CNN, Mr. Whitaker
discussed ways to undermine the special counsel investigation, including by putting pressure on
Mr. Rosenstein to “cut the budget of Bob Mueller and do something a little more stage crafty
than the blunt instrument of firing the attorney general and trying to replace him.” 8 Indeed, Mr.
Whitaker also imagined the precise scenario that is playing out before our eyes: “I could see a
scenario where Jeff Sessions is replaced, it would recess appointment and that attorney general
doesn't fire Bob Mueller but he just reduces his budget to so low that his investigations grinds to
almost a halt.” 9

4

Adam Liptak and Jim Rutenberg, Cohen Implicates President Trump. What Do Prosecutors Do Now?, New York
Times, Aug. 21, 2018, available at https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/21/us/politics/cohen-trump-indicted.html.
5
Id.
6
Devlin Barrett, Matt Zapotosky, and Josh Dawsey, Jeff Sessions forced out as attorney general, Washington Post,
Nov. 7, 2018, available at
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/attorney-general-jeff-sessions-resigns-at-trumpsrequest/2018/11/07/d1b7a214-e144-11e8-ab2c-b31dcd53ca6b_story.html.
7
Katie Benner and Maggie Haberman, Matthew Whitaker, a Trump Loyalist, Is Seen as Ascendant Amid
Rosenstein Chaos, New York Times, Sept. 26, 2018, available at
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/26/us/politics/matthew-whitaker-justice-department.html.
8
CNN Tonight, Transcript, CNN, July 26, 2017, available at
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1707/26/cnnt.01.html.
9
Id.

 The Honorable Lee J. Lofthus
November 8, 2018
Page 3
There Are Serious Questions about Mr. Whitaker’s Impartiality with Respect to these
Investigations
The Standards of Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch (“Standards of
Conduct”) impose fundamental duties to “act impartially and not give preferential treatment to
any private organization or individual” and to avoid even the appearance of a violation. 10 The
Standards also provide that “public service is a public trust, requiring employees to place loyalty
to the Constitution, the laws and ethical principles above private gain,” 11 which applies to private
gain not only by the employee but also by another individual, in this case arguably the elected
official who appointed Mr. Whitaker. 12
The Standards of Conduct set forth a process to consult with agency ethics officials in
circumstances such as these that raise questions about the employee’s impartiality to determine
whether he should or should not participate in a particular matter. 13 Under that process, Mr.
Whitaker should be advised to recuse from the special counsel and Southern District of New
York investigations because the statements he has made about the investigation raise significant
questions regarding his impartiality. 14 According to the New York Times, “[p]eople close to the
President said Mr. Whitaker first came to the attention of Mr. Trump because he liked watching
Mr. Whitaker express skepticism about aspects of Mr. Mueller’s investigation on television.” 15
There are numerous statements that Mr. Whitaker has made about the Russia investigation that
reflect personal bias and prejudgement that could undermine the integrity of the Russia
investigation if he were permitted to participate:
•

10

In a May 10, 2017 op-ed in The Hill, Mr. Whitaker defended the president’s firing of
then-FBI Director James Comey who at the time of his firing was supervising the
investigation of possible cooperation between the Trump campaign and Russia. 16 In the
same piece, Mr. Whitaker opposed the appointment of a special counsel to take over the
investigation. 17

5 C.F.R. § 2635.101(b)(8).
5 C.F.R. § 2635.101(b)(1).
12
See 5 C.F.R. § 2635.702(a).
13
5 C.F.R. § 2635.502(a)(2).
14
Under ABA Prosecutorial Standard 3-1.6, prosecutors are barred from acting based on bias, prejudice or other
improper considerations, such as partisan or political or personal considerations, in exercising prosecutorial
discretion. Prosecutors should “strive to eliminate implicit biases, and act to mitigate any improper bias or prejudice
when credibly informed that it exists within the scope of the prosecutor;s authority.” In this case, the only ethical
means of mitigating Mr. Whitaker’s bias and prejudice is to recuse him from the investigation.
15
Adam Goldman and Edward Wong, Trump Installs a Critic of the Mueller Investigation to Oversee It, New York
Times, Nov. 7, 2018, available at
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/07/us/politics/whitaker-mueller-trump.html.
16
Matthew Whitaker, Comey served faithfully, but the president made the right decision, The Hill, May 10, 2017,
available at https://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/the-administration/332812-jim-comey-served-faithfully-but-thepresident-made-the.
17
Id.
11

 The Honorable Lee J. Lofthus
November 8, 2018
Page 4

18

•

During a June 8, 2017 appearance on CNN, Mr. Whitaker argued, “[T]here is no criminal
case to be made on an obstruction of justice. I mean, we have -- we have the star witness
right now who has testified and then crossed examined a little bit that, you know, quite
frankly, his story just doesn't rise to the level of the intent necessary, on behalf of the
president, to even substantiate a criminal case.” 18

•

In a June 9, 2017 radio interview, Whitaker stated in reference to the congressional
testimony of former FBI Director James Comey that “there is no criminal obstruction of
justice charge to be had here.” 19

•

During a June 13, 2017 appearance on CNN, Mr. Whitaker argued, “I don't think that
under these facts and circumstances that an obstruction of justice charge, either in the
context that we have originally talked about with his discussions with Jim Comey or in
this new context of talking about the possibility of Bob Mueller losing his job as special
counsel, I think neither one of those would raise to the level of obstruction.” 20

•

In a July 10, 2017 appearance on CNN, Mr. Whitaker defended members of the Trump
campaign for a decision that is at the center of the special counsel’s investigation of
possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia. Referring to the Trump
Tower meeting in June 2016 that Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort
took with Russians who had promised dirt on Hillary Clinton, Mr. Whitaker said, “you
would always take the meeting” and that as a political candidate, “you certainly want to
have any advantage, any legal advantage you can and one of those main advantages is to
know what your opponent is either, you know, I mean all sorts of things that could be
happen [sic] in Hillary Clinton.” 21

•

In a separate appearance on CNN on July 10, 2017, Mr. Whitaker argued that the
evidence he had seen regarding the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting was not “enough to
suggest there's some conspiracy or otherwise to, you know, to violate either election laws
or espionage laws.” 22

•

In a July 26, 2017 appearance on CNN, Mr. Whitaker said, “I could see a scenario where
Jeff Sessions is replaced, it would recess appointment and that attorney general doesn't
fire Bob Mueller but he just reduces his budget to so low that his investigations grinds to

Wolf, Transcript, CNN, June 8, 2017, available at
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1706/08/wolf.01.html.
19
Mornings on the Mall, Former U.S. Attorney MATTHEW WHITAKER gives us an overview on Comey’s
testimony, WMAL, June 9, 2017, available at http://www.wmal.com/2017/06/09/listen-former-u-s-attorneymatthew-whitaker-gives-us-an-overview-on-comeys-testimony/.
20
CNN Tonight, Transcript, CNN, June 13, 2017, available at
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1706/13/cnnt.02.html.
21
CNN Newsroom, Transcript, CNN, July 10, 2017, available at
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1707/10/cnr.08.html.
22
Andreson Cooper 360 Degrees, Transcript, CNN, July 10, 2017, available at
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1707/10/acd.02.html.

 The Honorable Lee J. Lofthus
November 8, 2018
Page 5
almost a halt.” 23 In the same appearance, Mr. Whitaker discussed other ways to
undermine the special counsel investigation, including by putting pressure on Mr.
Rosenstein to “cut the budget of Bob Mueller and do something a little more stage crafty
than the blunt instrument of firing the attorney general and trying to replace him.” 24
•

In an August 6, 2017 article on CNN, Mr. Whitaker defended President Trump’s position
that Special Counsel Mueller would be crossing a “red line in the Russia 2016 electionmeddling investigation” if he began investigating Trump’s personal finances or
businesses. 25

•

On August 6, 2017, Mr. Whitaker tweeted, "Note to Trump's lawyer: Do not cooperate
with Mueller lynch mob". 26

•

On August 25, 2017, Mr. Whitaker suggested in a tweet that the FBI’s raid of Paul
Manafort’s home was designed to “intimidate.” 27

These statements are particularly noteworthy in light of the fact that Mr. Whitaker has
personally advocated for the recusal of public officials on the basis of their public statements.
Prior to joining the Justice Department, Whitaker was executive director of Foundation for
Accountability and Civic Trust (“FACT”), an nonprofit organization that claims to be “dedicated
to promoting accountability, ethics, and transparency in government and civic arenas.” 28 In April
2017 Whitaker and FACT called on Representative Joaquin Castro to recuse from the U.S.
House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Russian Active Measures investigation
because of “troubling public comments Congressman Castro made that seemed to indicate a
predetermined outcome of the investigation.” 29 Whitaker’s recusal from the special counsel and
Southern District of New York investigations would therefore be consistent with the very
standards for which he advocated prior to joining the Department of Justice.
In an analogous situation, the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel identified
the “significantly heightened risk” that an employee “will at least appear less than independent in
his judgments” if he participates in a matter in which an organization of which he is a director is

23

CNN Tonight, Transcript, CNN, July 26, 2017, available at
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1707/26/cnnt.01.html.
24
Id.
25
Matthew Whitaker, Mueller's investigation of Trump is going too far, CNN, Nov. 7, 2018, available at
https://www.cnn.com/2017/08/06/opinions/rosenstein-should-curb-mueller-whittaker-opinion/index.html.
26
https://twitter.com/MattWhitaker46/status/894363989962100736.
27
https://twitter.com/MattWhitaker46/status/901175034135420929.
28
Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust, https://www.factdc.org/ (accessed Nov. 8, 2018).
29
FACT calls for U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro to Recuse Himself from Russia Probe, Foundation for Accountability
and Civic Trust, Apr. 11, 2017, available at https://www.factdc.org/single-post/2017/04/11/FACT-Calls-for-USRep-Joaquin-Castro-to-Recuse-Himself-from-Russia-Probe. See also Letter from Matthew G. Whitaker to Rep.
Joaquin Castro, Foundation for Accountability and Civil Trust, Apr. 11, 2017, available at
https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/65db76_053e2a3abee74741adf973a41ffc4d2f.pdf.

 The Honorable Lee J. Lofthus
November 8, 2018
Page 6
“advocating its views directly to the federal government.” 30 Here, Mr. Whitaker has publicly
expressed strategies to undermine funding and public support for the investigations in an
apparently successful attempt to show his loyalty and win the President’s favor, which clearly
creates at least the appearance that he will be less than independent in his judgments.
Mr. Whitaker’s Personal Relationship with a Key Witness in the Investigation Also
Counsels in Favor of Mr. Whitaker’s Recusal
In addition, Justice Department regulations at 28 C.F.R § 45.2 mandate recusal from a
criminal investigation if a department official has a personal or political relationship with a
person or organization that is “substantially involved” or has a “specific and substantial interest”
in a criminal investigation. 31 Mr. Whitaker reportedly has a personal and political relationship
with Sam Clovis, the former chief policy adviser and national co-chairman of the 2016 Trump
campaign as well as a key witness in the Russia investigation. 32 That relationship arises from Mr.
Whitaker having previously served as the chairman of Mr. Clovis’ unsuccessful 2014 campaign
for Iowa State Treasurer. 33 Mr. Clovis also reportedly has “kept up” with Mr. Whitaker and said
that they still “regularly text” one another, as recently as within the last few weeks. 34 In an
interview with the Washington Post yesterday, Colvis said that he and Whitaker were “currently
friends” and that he had texted Whitaker congratulations when he became acting Attorney
General. 35
Mr. Clovis played a significant role as a witness to key events under investigation by the
Special Counsel. For example, he has been reported in court documents to have been the Trump
“campaign supervisor” who responded “great work” to George Papadopoulos when briefed
about his meeting with a Russian official and woman who was introduced as “Putin’s niece.” 36
30

Steven G Bradbury, Financial Interests of Nonprofit Organizations for Purposes of 18 U.S.C. § 208, Office of
Legal Counsel, U.S. Department of Justice, Jan. 11, 2006, available at
https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/olc/opinions/attachments/2015/05/29/op-olc-v030-p0064.pdf
31
28 C.F.R § 45.2
32
Ken Dilanian and Mike Memoli, Top Trump Campaign Aide Clovis Spoke to Mueller Team, Grand Jury, NBC
News, Oct. 31, 2017, available at https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/top-trump-campaign-aide-clovis-spokemueller-team-grand-jury-n816106.
33
Matt Whitaker to Chair Sam Clovis’ Campaign for State Treasurer, Caffeinated Thoughts, Jul. 1, 2014, available
at
https://caffeinatedthoughts.com/2014/07/matt-whitaker-chair-sam-clovis-campaign-state-treasurer/.
34
Cameron Joseph, Incoming AG Whitaker Has Close Ties With Former Trump Adviser Sam Clovis, TPM, Nov. 7,
2018, available at
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/incoming-ag-whitaker-faced-fellow-trumper-clovis-joni-ernst-in-iowa-primary.
35
Rosalind S. Helderman, Matt Zapotosky, and Carol D. Leonnig, Sessions’s ouster throws future of special
counsel probe into question. Washington Post, Nov. 7, 2018, available at
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/with-the-midterms-over-mueller-faces-key-decisions-in-russiainvestigation/2018/11/07/7ef2765a-e151-11e8-ab2c-b31dcd53ca6b_story.html?utm_term=.330ceb17e635.
36
See Rosalind S. Helderman, Who’s who in the George Papadopoulos court documents, Washington Post, Nov. 2,
2017, available at
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/whos-who-in-the-george-papadopoulos-courtdocuments/2017/10/30/e131158c-bdb3-11e7-97d9-bdab5a0ab381_story.html.

 The Honorable Lee J. Lofthus
November 8, 2018
Page 7
Any continuing contacts between Mr. Clovis and Mr. Whitaker and the political nature of their
relationship would further support the case for Mr. Whitaker’s recusal.
Mr. Whitaker’s Recusal Is Also Required Because His Appointment Appears to Be the
Latest in a Series of Attempts by the President to Interfere with These Investigations
Mr. Whitaker’s recusal from these matters is necessitated by President Trump’s alarming
pattern of seeking the aid of the Attorney General or other senior Department of Justice officials
in interfering with the FBI-turned special counsel investigation. For instance, President Trump
reportedly lobbied now-former Attorney General Sessions not to recuse from the investigation of
ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. When those efforts failed, President Trump
reportedly “erupted in anger,” said that he needed his attorney general to protect him, and asked
“Where’s my Roy Cohn?”—a reference to Senator Joseph McCarthy’s top aide and Mr. Trump’s
former personal lawyer and fixer. 37 Only months after Attorney General Sessions’s recusal,
President Trump fired FBI Director Comey, who was leading the investigation of links and/or
coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia. And when Deputy Attorney General Rod
Rosenstein appointed Special Counsel Mueller to take over that investigation, the President
reportedly accused Attorney General Sessions of “disloyalty” and requested that he resign. 38 In
the summer of 2017, President Trump even reportedly ordered the firing of Special Counsel
Mueller, and only backed off when then-White House Counsel Donald F. McGahn II refused to
carry out the order and said he would quit. 39 In an episode illustrative of the personal fealty that
President Trump expects of senior Department of Justice Officials, President Trump claimed that
in Mr. Sessions he didn’t “have an attorney general.” 40
President Trump’s pressure on Attorney General Sessions to resign and his temporary
appointment of Acting Attorney General Whitaker is lamentably consistent with this pattern of
obstructive behavior. 41 As a newly appointed officer in the executive branch, Mr. Whitaker has
taken an oath to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies,
foreign and domestic” and to “faithfully discharge the duties of the office” he occupies. 42 His
recusal from the aforementioned matters is a fulfillment of that oath because it will protect
37

Michael S. Schmidt, Obstruction Inquiry Shows Trump’s Struggle to Keep Grip on Russia Investigation, New
York Times, Jan. 4, 2018, available at https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/04/us/politics/trump-sessions-russiamcgahn.html.
38
Michael S. Schmidt and Maggie Haberman, Trump Humiliated Jeff Sessions After Mueller Appointment, New
York Times, Sept. 14, 2017, available at https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/14/us/politics/jeff-sessions-trump.html.
39
Michael S. Schmidt and Maggie Haberman, Trump Ordered Mueller Fired, but Backed Off When White House
Counsel Threatened to Quit, New York Times, Jan. 25, 2018, available at
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/25/us/politics/trump-mueller-special-counsel-russia.html.
40
John Solomon and Buck Sexton, Trump eviscerates Sessions: ‘I don’t have an attorney general’, The Hill, Sept.
19, 2018, available at https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/407358-hilltv-interview-exclusive-trump-eviscerates-sessionsi-have-no-attorney.
41
See Barry H. Berke, Noah Bookbinder, and Norman Eisen, Presidential obstruction of justice: The case of Donald
J. Trump, 2nd ed., Brookings, Aug. 22, 2018, available at https://www.brookings.edu/research/presidentialobstruction-of-justice-the-case-of-donald-j-trump-2nd-edition/.
42
5 U.S.C. § 3331.

 The Honorable Lee J. Lofthus
November 8, 2018
Page 8
efforts by the Department of Justice to uphold the Constitution from further real or apparent
interference by President Trump in matters that could impact the president or his interests.
The recusal of Attorney General John D. Ashcroft in 2003 from a special counsel
investigation into the disclosure of Valerie Plame’s CIA identity provides precedent for recusal
in circumstances such as these. In that case, while Attorney General Ashcroft was not technically
required to recuse, he nonetheless did so to avoid the appearance of a conflict because the
investigation had the potential to implicate (and ultimately did implicate) senior administration
officials. 43 In our view, it is both appropriate and necessary that Mr. Whitaker follow Attorney
General Ashcroft’s example and recuse. The President’s comments and actions call into question
the objectivity of anyone in his position by indicating that he expects the Attorney General to
look out for his interests rather than defend the constitution and fulfill the duties of office.
Attorney General Ashcroft’s recusal, with far less extreme precipitating circumstances,
demonstrates how to effectively defuse these types of concerns. Indeed, we believe that Acting
Attorney General Whitaker is legally required to recuse, but even were you and he to reach a
different legal conclusion, he should nonetheless recuse to address appearance concerns like
those that motivated Attorney General Ashcroft, but in this case far more profound.
The interim nature of Mr. Whitaker’s appointment further counsels against active
involvement in any investigation that implicates the president. 44 Since his confirmation by the
Senate in the Spring of 2017, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has handled supervision
of the special counsel and Southern District of New York investigations capably. Wresting
supervisory control of either investigation from Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein would
upset relationships that have performed well to date and require no course correction.
Mr. Whitaker’s Recusal Should Be Swift and Public
Finally, we request that Mr. Whitaker’s recusal be swift and public to make clear to the
American people and the public servants of the Department of Justice that he will fulfill his oath
to serve the Constitution rather than the personal agenda of the President. President Trump’s
repeated attacks on the integrity of these investigations and requests for the Attorney General to
join him in these attacks demands nothing short of a clear, unequivocal statement that Mr.
Whitaker will play no part in undermining the rule of law that he is now sworn to uphold.

43

Dan Eggen and Mike Allen, Ashcroft Recuses Self From Leak Case, Washington Post, Dec. 31, 2003, available
at https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2003/12/31/ashcroft-recuses-self-from-leak-case/53c7218b24e6-4b03-8759-0e134d4551fb/. See also Carol D. Leonnig and Amy Goldstein, Libby Found Guilty in CIA Leak
Case, Washington Post, Mar. 7, 2007, available at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030600648.html.
44
The Federal Vacancies Reform Act provides that an acting officer may serve for may serve “for no longer than
210 days beginning on the date the vacancy occurs,” or, “once a first or second nomination for the office is
submitted to the Senate, from the date of such nomination for the period that the nomination is pending in the
Senate.” 5 U.S.C. § 3346.

 The Honorable Lee J. Lofthus
November 8, 2018
Page 9
Sincerely,

Noah Bookbinder
Executive Director

Ambassador (Ret.) Norman L. Eisen
Chair
cc:

The Honorable Matt G. Whitaker