Acting Attorney General Matthew G. Whitaker’s appearance during last Friday’s testimony before a House panel drew praise from President Trump on Tuesday.
“You’ve taken a tremendous amount of abuse, but you handled yourself incredibly last Friday,” Mr. Trump told Mr. Whitaker during an afternoon Cabinet hearing.
In a contentious and partisan hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, Mr. Whitaker and Democrat lawmakers sparred over a number of issues. They confronted Mr. Whitaker on his past business dealings, qualifications to serve as attorney general and criticism of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe.
At one point during the hearing, Mr. Whitaker accused Democrats of questioning his character.
On Tuesday, Mr. Trump thanked the acting attorney general for his work since taking over for the ousted Jeff Sessions in November. Mr. Whitaker will step down this week with the expected confirmation of William P. Barr as attorney general.
“On behalf of all of us, I want to thank you very much. It’s heartfelt, believe me,” the president said....