Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker has reportedly been cleared to oversee special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian collusion, much to the outrage of the professional left.

Sources familiar with the inner workings of the Justice Department confirmed to both Fox News and CNN on Thursday that last week department officials essentially cleared the acting AG, telling him that he was not obligated to recuse himself from the special counsel’s investigation.

Published around noon, these confirmations provoked shock and anger from Democrat politicians and their allies, all of whom allege Whitaker may try to interfere in Mueller’s investigation.

Here’s just a small dose of this exasperation:

The president, who is an unindicted co-conspirator in multiple crimes, SHOULD NOT have the power to choose his prosecutor. Acting AG Whitaker is a crony loyalist who should IMMEDIATELY recuse himself from the Muller investigation. #ProtectMueller https://t.co/V17qvG9ud1 — Senator Jeff Merkley (@SenJeffMerkley) December 20, 2018

We can all see what’s happening here. It’s past time for Congress to pass bipartisan legislation protecting the Special Counsel’s investigation from political interference.https://t.co/AcXnTm3HNE — Mark Warner (@MarkWarner) December 20, 2018

Brett Kavanaugh, Matt Whitaker, now William Barr — President Trump’s picks for the nation’s top judicial officers consistently believe the president should be shielded from the law. We need an impartial AG, and Mr. Barr’s memo proves he won’t be. https://t.co/8jgZcTUsoO — Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) December 20, 2018

This is not good news https://t.co/eRMjqWjp9U — Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) December 20, 2018

Given his past statements this is startling and frightening – he will be kept abreast of happenings in the probe and we move towards more indictments and the final report. https://t.co/nis2DxMzFv — Amy Siskind ?️‍? (@Amy_Siskind) December 20, 2018

If true that DOJ ethics has said Acting AG Whitaker need not recuse, it is very bad news. It means Trump has suceeded in compromising DOJ ethics so they are ok with a hack who has called Mueller’s probe a “witch hunt” overseeing it.#WhitakerMustRecuse https://t.co/8111jQlK8y — The Loyal Opposition ?? (@TheLoyalO) December 20, 2018

I’m not sure which part of this is BS, but a lot. Whitaker is under investigation himself and there is no way he is cleared to see what Mueller has. He is, at most, a figurehead. https://t.co/C24cMvzp6m — Dirk Schwenk (@DirkSchwenk) December 20, 2018

Concerns about the acting AG’s alleged partiality began brewing after President Donald Trump appointed him to replace ousted Attorney General Jeff Sessions last month.

According to the far left, Whitaker’s views about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and special counsel Mueller make him a “biased hack” unfit to serve as acting AG.

Two years ago he admitted that he would have indicted Clinton over her improper handling of State Department correspondence. In an op-ed published a year later at CNN, he took issue with Mueller’s unrestrained power and warned that his investigation was beginning to resemble a “witch hunt.”

Note that these opinions were issued before Whitaker’s tenure as acting AG. The same may not be said of disgraced former FBI special agent Peter Strzok, a left-wing “hero” who expressed virulently anti-Trump sentiments while working on Mueller’s investigation team.

It’s unclear why the same members of the left who sang Strzok’s praises find Whitaker’s opinions on Clinton and Mueller to be so disconcerting.

Note also that the acting AG’s tenure is expected to only be temporary, as the president has already nominated a permanent replacement for Sessions: attorney William P. Barr, who in the early 90s briefly served as attorney general to then-President George H.W. Bush.

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Watch the president’s Dec. 7 announcement below:

Barr’s nomination also stirred up some controversy, albeit not nearly as much. In some cases left-wingers even praised the nomination, as evidenced by this stunning headline from The Washington Post: “Count me as one Democrat who thinks Trump made an excellent choice in William Barr.”

It remains unclear why the far left remains so transfixed on Whitaker, especially given as he’s made no indications that he plans to interfere in Mueller’s investigation.

Though just to be clear, he could if he wanted.

“Every prosecutor has jurisdictional boundaries,” House Oversight Committee chair Trey Gowdy pointed out last month. “I don’t know a single prosecutor that does not.”

“But there has never been a prosecutor that just had unfettered power to go investigate whatever the heck he or she wanted to do,” he added, the suggestion being that this is what Democrats want — for Mueller to not be answerable to anybody, including Whitaker.

More of the left’s exasperation may be seen below:

Not only that. Whitaker has been a political operative for years with ties to dark money. There is evidence he used his position as US attorney to go after perceived political opponents. This dude shouldnt be anywhere near the Justice department. — Donny Jell-O (@DDumpsterfire) December 20, 2018

Gotta change the name to Dept. of Injustice. — Deliberational (@deliberational) December 20, 2018

Gotta change the name to Dept. of Injustice. — Deliberational (@deliberational) December 20, 2018

Oh boy – something else to keep Mueller busy. He will have to investigate and lock him up too. #LockThemAllUp — Kathy Ragsdale (@KathyRagsdale33) December 20, 2018

What are the odds Mueller is fired over the holidays while Congress is out of town? Seriously, this is a legit worry of mine. — Erin (@ETphoneHome107) December 20, 2018

Whitaker has committed no crimes, and there’s no evidence Mueller will be fired soon, but never mind the actual facts …

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