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House judiciary panel chief says ex-attorney general also was involved in talks over firing U.S. attorneys

Former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker was involved in conversations about the scope of New York federal prosecutors’ investigation into Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former lawyer, and about whether to fire one or more U.S. attorneys, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee said Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters after a closed-door meeting with Mr. Whitaker, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D., N.Y.) said Mr. Whitaker didn’t deny—as he had in a public committee hearing last month—that Mr. Trump had called him to discuss the Cohen investigation, in which prosecutors in December implicated the president in two federal campaign-finance violations.

Mr. Nadler said that Mr. Whitaker, while serving as acting attorney general, had been “directly involved” in conversations about whether to fire U.S. attorneys, though the congressman didn’t specify which ones.

Mr. Nadler also said Mr. Whitaker had been involved in discussions about the “scope of the Southern District [of New York] attorney and his recusal” from the Cohen investigation, and whether New York prosecutors “went too far” in pursuing their campaign-finance investigation.

Mr. Nadler didn’t specify with whom Mr. Whitaker had those conversations. The House Judiciary Committee believes it has evidence that Mr. Trump asked Mr. Whitaker whether Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman could regain control of his office’s investigation into Mr. Cohen, The Wall Street Journal previously reported.

Mr. Berman is a former law partner of Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani and in 2016 donated to the Trump campaign. The president personally interviewed him for the U.S. attorney job, and last year he recused himself from involvement in the Cohen investigation.

Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia, the top Republican on the committee, disputed parts of Mr. Nadler’s account on Wednesday, saying Mr. Whitaker didn’t confirm that he had spoken with the president about the Cohen investigation. He also said Mr. Whitaker’s conversations about firing U.S. attorneys were “normal personnel issues.”

The revelation that Mr. Whitaker was involved in conversations about the possibility of curtailing New York prosecutors’ investigation into the president’s former lawyer could propel ongoing investigations by Congress and by special counsel Robert Mueller into whether Mr. Trump sought to obstruct justice. Mr. Trump has denied doing so.

.. Mr. Whitaker met for about two hours behind closed doors with Mr. Nadler and Mr. Collins after he agreed to appear voluntarily to clarify testimony he provided during a contentious public hearing before the committee last month.Republicans said Mr. Whitaker’s return to the Hill was unnecessary, but Democrats said they were concerned Mr. Whitaker’s public testimony was at times either not fully forthcoming or may have been deliberately misleading.

A Democratic aide, however, said that Mr. Collins asked Mr. Whitaker in a final volley of questions whether it was correct that he didn’t have any communications with the president about the Mr. Cohen case. Mr. Whitaker replied: “No, that is not what I am telling you today,” a response that reiterated he wasn’t denying such conversations did take place, according to the Democratic aide. A Republican aide countered that “we have no record of that statement.”

“What we learned from Mr. Whitaker today leaves open the question of whether the president called his attorney general and tried to convince him to make this damaging investigation go away,” the Democratic aide said.

Mr. Whitaker’s return to Congress was not without moments of levity. At one point, Mr. Whitaker asked Mr. Nadler if he would be talking to the media afterward and requested that Mr. Nadler “please let reporters know how good-looking I am,” according to Republican and Democratic aides.

Mr. Nadler made no mention of Mr. Whitaker’s looks during his remarks to reporters.