Acting U.S. attorney general will not meddle with Russia probe: Lindsey Graham

U.S. Republican Senator LindseyGraham said on Thursday that acting Attorney General MatthewWhitaker, who now oversees a probe ofwhether President DonaldTrump's campaign colluded with Russia,told him he had no concerns about Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is leadingthe investigation.

"He's seen nothing out of bounds or no concerns at all aboutMr. Mueller," Graham, a senior member of the Senate judiciary committee and a close ally of Trump, told reporters in comments confirmed by hisspokesperson.

Graham, after a meeting with Whitaker, said he wasconfident there would be no interference in the investigation and said he said he saw no need for Whitaker to recuse himselfas Democrats have demanded, the spokesperson confirmed.

Democrats and others fear Whitaker's appointment couldjeopardize Mueller's probe of Russia's role in the 2016 U.S. election.

Whitaker, a Trump loyalist and a former U.S. attorney forthe southern district of Iowa, had criticized the Mueller probe as too far-reaching before he was appointed by Trump last weekto run the Justice Department.

Trump has denied that his 2016 presidential campaigncolluded with Russia and calls the Mueller probe a witch hunt.

U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russiainterfered in the 2016 election to help Trump by undermining Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Russia has denied anymeddling in the election.

Democrats oppose Whitaker appointment

Congressional Democrats on Thursday dismissed as "fatallyflawed" a Justice Department legal opinion defending Trump's decision to appoint Whitaker as acting attorney general toreplace ousted Jeff Sessions.

The top Democrats on the House and Senate judiciary committees and the House intelligence committee said in a joint statement that the opinion released on Wednesdaytwists the language of the U.S. Constitution and ignores anexisting lawgoverning succession at the Justice Department.

In a preview of the opposition Trump can expect in January,when a new Democratic majority takes control of the House ofRepresentatives, the Democrats said Whitaker should not havebeen appointed because he has not been confirmed by the Senate.

"This will embolden the future use of temporary appointmentsfor illegitimate purposes ...This can't be allowed to stand,"said the statement from House judiciary committee DemocratJerrold Nadler, House intelligence committee Democrat AdamSchiff and Senate judiciary committee Democrat Dianne Feinstein.

Nadler and Schiff are expected to become chairmen of theircommittees in the next Congress.

Trump has repeatedly attacked the investigation, whichhas led to criminal chargesagainst several former Trump aides.

The Justice Department's opinion concluded that Whitaker'sappointment was allowed under a 1998 law called the FederalVacancies Reform Act. It rejected views that the move ran afoulof the U.S. Constitution's requirement for "principal officers"to be confirmed by the Senate.

The Justice Department also cited an 1866 example of anacting attorney general being appointed without Senate confirmation, which Democrats pounced on.

"That was for six days in 1866 the year after the CivilWar ended, four years before the Justice Department's founding
and a century before the [Justice Department] succession law wasenacted," the Democrats said.