Napolitano －Matthew Whitaker Is "Legally Ineligible" To Be Acting AG

“I was very disappointed to see the lawyers who work for Matthew Whitaker go back to 1866, and look for a precedent there to decide whether or not he was lawfully appointed," Napolitano said during a segment on Fox News' "Shepard Smith Reporting." "I don’t care what happened in 1866, because the Congress changed the law in the 1960s and said whoever runs the Justice Department has to be nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate because we put too much power in their hands.”

Napolitano served on New Jersey's Superior Court for almost a decade in the 1980s and '90s, and he is an expert in constitutional law and rule of law.

He said Wednesday that Republicans shared Democratic concerns regarding what Whitaker, an ally of President Trump, may do now that he oversees special counsel Robert Mueller's federal Russia investigation.

“The problem comes with decisions made by Mr. Whitaker in the interim," Napolitano said. "Because when his position — not if — when his position is found to be legally ineligible, those decisions will become null and void. Put that toothpaste back in the tube.”