Recusal on Mueller matters

Democrats to press Kavanaugh for recusal on Mueller matters

By ELANA SCHOR

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee said Tuesday they intend to ask Brett Kavanaugh to step aside from any future cases involving Robert Mueller's investigation of President Donald Trump if he's confirmed to the Supreme Court.

The recusal requests stem in large part from a 2009 law review article that Kavanaugh wrote suggesting that Congress take up legislation "exempting a president — while in office — from criminal prosecution and investigation." Given that the Supreme Court ultimately could rule on several high-profile issues related to the special counsel's investigation of Trump's ties to Russia, Democrats will press Kavanaugh to commit to stepping aside.

"I don't think he should be on the court, and you can be sure that me and my colleagues on the Democratic side are going to be asking if he will recuse himself, should he be confirmed," Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), considered a potential Trump challenger in 2020, told reporters.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), another member of the Judiciary panel, agreed that Kavanaugh should recuse himself from any cases "that involve President Trump's personal financial dealings or the special counsel."

Democrats are building their message against Kavanaugh around Roe v. Wade and health care. But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has expanded that view to include the Mueller probe.

Trump "chose the candidate who he thought would best protect him from the Mueller investigation.” Schumer told reporters.

Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) called the early Democratic push for recusal "ridiculous."

Kavanaugh "just got nominated last night," Cornyn told reporters. "We’ve got to go through the process, and [the issue] may all be a dim memory by the time this is over with.”

Another Democrat on the Judiciary panel, Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono, acknowledged that Kavanaugh "will never answer that" question about stepping aside from cases that might call on him to apply to Trump his notably broad views on executive power.

"I would love for him to recuse himself," Hirono said in an interview. "But I think he’ll say that he didn’t come right out and say that a president should be protected ... He said Congress should act to do that."

Hirono added that "I think we know where he’s at." Even so, "we’re going to ask him -- so, Congress hasn’t acted" on standards for conducting an investigation of a sitting president. "So now what?"

White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah didn't return a request for comment on the Democratic recusal calls, but Shah told NBC on Tuesday that Trump didn't raise "specific cases or hypotheticals" in his conversations with Kavanaugh.

"He asked him broadly how he would approach the law," Shah said.