Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer said Wednesday Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh should recuse himself from any case dealing with the special counsel’s probe involving President Trump if he’s confirmed to the high court.
The New York Democrat made his remarks after CNN reported about an interview Judge Kavanaugh, who sits on the federal appeals court in D.C., gave at an American Enterprise Institute event in 2016.
At the event, the judge said he would overturn the 1988 case Morrison v. Olson, where the Supreme Court held the Independent Counsel Act was constitutional. Congress, though, allowed the law to expire in 1999.
A Justice Department regulation currently governs special counsel investigations, but Judge Kavanaugh’s comments from two years ago are getting extra attention as Mr. Trump’s campaign remains under investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller for allegedly colluding with Russians during the 2016 election.
“Judge Kavanaugh, particularly after this interview, needs to recuse himself from anything having to do with the Mueller probe given his record and the fact that he was nominated by the subject of the investigation, he could very well end up ruling on,” Mr. Schumer said Wednesday on the chamber floor.
Raj Shah, principal deputy press security for the White House, pushed back on Twitter, saying Mr. Schumer’s attack is “laughable.”
“There is a clear legal difference between the Independent Counsel statute and the Special Counsel regulation. Let’s not play fast and loose,” Mr. Shah tweeted.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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