Whitaker’s appointment & Muller investigation; Russia’s meta-trolling campaign; Russia dismayed as Dems take House, and more

Whitaker should be recused. His repeated expression of hostility to the Mueller investigation makes it impossible for the public to have confidence in his ability to exercise the necessary prosecutorial judgment in supervising Mueller. Bolstering that conclusion is the fact that his public comments on the special counsel’s work were uninformed. He condemned expansion of the Mueller investigation beyond possible collusion with Russia when he could not have known what evidence Mueller had uncovered, and on which Rosenstein may have relied, justifying any expansion. While Whitaker was free, of course, to speak despite his ignorance in this regard, his precipitous judgment further undermines the ability of the public to have confidence in the decisions he would make if he were allowed to supervise Mueller. 

A thousand cuts: How the acting attorney general could kill Russia investigations without firing Mueller—and only “norms” could stop him (Ryan Goodman and Alex Whiting, Just Security)
The Acting Attorney General is in a position to seriously undermine the Russia investigation. He could potentially take several steps behind closed doors without the public being able to know in a timely manner. Other steps would be immediately visible. In the final analysis, the principal constraints on the Acting Attorney General if he is considering ways to undercut the investigation are the degree to which that individual is concerned about the personal repercussions of violating the most fundamental norms of his profession, the longer term damage to the institutions of justice, and any political blowback from Congress or the public.
Some individuals may risk those consequences, and even delight in thumbing a nose at Congress on the belief that they serve a more noble cause or in the firm knowledge that, as a legal matter, they can get away with it. It is useful to think about the architects of the torture memos, and their contemptuous attitudes when they were “hauled” before Congress.

Matthew Whitaker’s appointment as acting attorney general: Three lingering questions (John E. Bles, Lawfare)
President Trump, acting under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act (FVRA), has appointed Matthew Whitaker, formerly the chief of staff to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, to serve as acting attorney general. There has been widespread coverage of the potential ramifications of this appointment for the special counsel’s investigation. But there are three lingering questions about this appointment that have not yet been answered in public: First, is the appointment constitutional? Second, does the president have authority to make an appointment under the FVRA when there is a confirmed deputy attorney general who can act under a specific statute governing Department of Justice succession (28 U.S.C.§ 508)? And third, does the acting attorney general have any recusal obligations in relation to the special counsel’s investigation in light of his past statements and relationships? (The order appointing the acting attorney general was presumably reviewed and approved by the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel for form and legality, so it may have opined on these questions, but the office has not published any opinion.)

We aren’t alarmed enough about Jeff Sessions’s firing (Zack Beauchamp, Vox)
The attorney general’s departure — and our response to it — shows how Trump is eroding democracy.

House Democrats are already trying to protect the Mueller investigation (Jen Kirby, Vox)
Incoming leaders asked top Trump officials to preserve documents related to the special counsel’s probe and Sessions’s resignation.

Russian troll farm Internet Research Agency has new meta-trolling propaganda campaign (Kevin Poulsen, Daily Beast)
The Internet Research Agency has launched a desperate new campaign to spread distrust in the midterm election results—and made itself the star.

Facebook says Russian company might have been behind pages purged earlier than midterms (Marta Subat, Infosurhoy)
Facebook spent months promoting its new election safety policies before Tuesday night’s United States midterm elections. Not long after polls closed, the social network’s cybersecurity chief said the 115 pages that had been wiped from Facebook and Instagram for disinformation may have belonged to a notorious Russian troll agency, according to the New York Times.

A Russian troll farm set an elaborate social media trap for the midterms — and no one bit (Ben Collins, NBC News)
A website claiming to be run by an infamous troll farm tried to tip journalists and spread fear of election meddling, but failed to generate any serious attention.

Russia in dismay and despair as Democrats take the House in midterm elections (Julia Davis, Daily Beast)
Across state-run media, Russians started bracing themselves for ‘sanctions from hell’ and feared the friend they thought they had in Trump was now ‘hanging by a hair.’