Trump worried Whitaker will turn in another 'sweaty' and disastrous performance before House committee: CNN contributor

A panel discussion hosted by CNN's Wolf Blitzer said that President Donald Trump does not want acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker to testify in front of Congress because of the potentially bad "optics" it could create.

Whitaker said that he would not appear for testimony before Congress unless he was guaranteed not to be subpoenaed.

"I think the president thinks if Whitaker does go, he wants him to look good. If he goes and is getting grilled by these Democrats, the president won't look favorably upon that," CNN reporter Katlin Collins said.

CNN contributor Bianna Golodryga explained that Whitaker looked "uncomfortable" in the past while answering questions.

"This is an optics driven administration and this could be a stall tactic by Whitaker," Golodryga said. "Remember how uncomfortable he was when asked questions about the Mueller investigation? He started sweating profusely and did not know how to answer questions directly."

"If that was a taste of what could possibly come, this could be an administration and even a Justice Department that doesn't want to see something like that repeated," she said.

Watch below via CNN: