--- title: Trump Says He Won't Overrule Whitaker If He Limits Mueller's Probe description: President Trump said he wouldn’t stop Attorney General Matthew Whitaker if he curtails special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. canonical: https://time.com/5458289/president-trump-whitaker-mueller-probe/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-11-18T16:16:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T22:05:09.243Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump Says He Wouldn't Overrule Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker If He Limits Mueller's Investigation og:description: 'I think he’s astute politically. He’s a very smart person' og:url: https://time.com/5458289/president-trump-whitaker-mueller-probe/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbac8fb379c769c63/69893f6986f68e72f66eabef/matthew-whitaker-trump-mueller-probe.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4173 og:image:height: 2347 og:image:alt: matthew-whitaker-trump-mueller-probe og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump Says He Wouldn't Overrule Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker If He Limits Mueller's Investigation twitter:description: 'I think he’s astute politically. He’s a very smart person' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbac8fb379c769c63/69893f6986f68e72f66eabef/matthew-whitaker-trump-mueller-probe.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Says He Wouldn't Overrule Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker If He Limits Mueller's Investigation > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. 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It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Jennifer Jacobs / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Jennifer Jacobs / Bloomberg Contributor Nov 18, 2018 4:16 PM UTC  Acting Attorney General Matthew G. Whitaker waits to speak at the Dept. of Justice's Annual Veterans Appreciation Day Ceremony in Washington on Nov. 15, 2018. Acting Attorney General Matthew G. Whitaker waits to speak at the Dept. of Justice's Annual Veterans Appreciation Day Ceremony in Washington on Nov. 15, 2018. Pablo Martinez Monsivais—AP/REX/Shutterstock by [Jennifer Jacobs / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Jennifer Jacobs / Bloomberg Contributor Nov 18, 2018 4:16 PM UTC (Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump said he wouldn’t stop acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker if he curtails special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible collusion by Trump campaign officials with Russian interference in the presidential election. “It’s going to be up to him,” Trump said when anchor Chris Wallace asked about the scenario in a “Fox News Sunday” interview. “I think he’s astute politically. He’s a very smart person.” Whitaker has been a critic of the special counsel’s probe. Trump, who has regularly blasted Mueller’s investigation as a “witch hunt,” fired Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Nov. 7 and named Whitaker acting attorney general. Pressed a second time on whether he would overrule Whitaker if he placed limits on Mueller’s investigation, Trump responded, “I would not get involved.” Trump also said his written answers to questions the Mueller team posed to him is likely all he will provide the special counsel, though he will weigh any follow-up request from the prosecutor for a sit-down interview. “I hope it solves the problem, if it doesn’t, you know, I’ll be told and we’ll make a decision at that time,” Trump said. “But probably this is the end.” Trump said Saturday he had finished written answers to questions Mueller’s team has asked him and would turn them in during the coming week. “We gave very, very complete answers to a lot of questions that I shouldn’t have even been asked, and I think that should solve the problem,” Trump said in the Fox News interview. Democrats in Congress have called for Whitaker to recuse himself from overseeing the Mueller probe and have questioned whether his appointment is constitutional because the Senate didn’t confirm him for his most recent position as Sessions’s chief of staff. The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel issued a 20-page legal opinion last week defending the appointment as legal, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell last week blocked two senators from bringing up legislation to protect Mueller’s investigation from any efforts by the Trump administration to thwart it. Republican Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona, who is retiring at the end of this year, has said he will refuse to advance any judicial nominees in the Judiciary Committee or confirm any judges on the Senate floor until the Mueller bill is brought to the floor for a vote. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5458289/president-trump-whitaker-mueller-probe/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5458289/president-trump-whitaker-mueller-probe/"},"headline":"President Trump Says He Wouldn't Overrule Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker If He Limits Mueller's Investigation","datePublished":"2018-11-18T16:16:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T22:05:09.243Z","description":"'I think he’s astute politically. 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