Background
According to 28 CFR 600.8, the budget of a Special Counsel investigation is handled as follows:
(a)Budget.
(1) A Special Counsel shall be provided all appropriate resources by the Department of Justice. Within the first 60 days of his or her appointment, the Special Counsel shall develop a proposed budget for the current fiscal year with the assistance of the Justice Management Division for the Attorney General's review and approval. Based on the proposal, the Attorney General shall establish a budget for the operations of the Special Counsel. The budget shall include a request for assignment of personnel, with a description of the qualifications needed.
(2) Thereafter, 90 days before the beginning of each fiscal year, the Special Counsel shall report to the Attorney General the status of the investigation, and provide a budget request for the following year. The Attorney General shall determine whether the investigation should continue and, if so, establish the budget for the next year.
According to the Second Paragraph, any changes to the budget must happen 90 days before the start of the next fiscal year, which began October 1st. There are no clauses about changing the budget for an ongoing Special Counsel investigation anywhere else. This leads me to wonder....
Question
Can Matthew Whitaker, as Acting Attorney General, change the budget for the current Special Counsel investigation at any point other than 90 days before the next fiscal year?
