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Republicans Are Finally Taking Action Against Rod Rosenstein – Here’s What They Plan

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According to a report in Politico, Republican lawmakers are planning to finally take action against Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein after months of scathing critiques and castigation. . .

The deputy attorney general made headlines Friday even as Republicans were planning to begin the process to oust him, when he announced new indictments against numerous Russian officers for interfering in the 2016 U.S. election. . .

President Donald Trump and his allies have excoriated Rosenstein because he refuses to rein in the investigation into Russian election interference and alleged collusion. As the second in line in power behind Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the investigation falls under Rosenstein’s supervision after Sessions recused himself. . .

Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) tore into Sessions when he defended Rosenstein from accusations that he threatened Republican members of Congress and staff with subpoena of their emails and other documents.

“For the attorney general to say he’s confident that Rod Rosenstein did everything right,” Meadows angrily said on Fox News, “well, I’m confident he doesn’t know what he’s talking about!” (Read more from “Republicans Are Finally Taking Action Against Rod Rosenstein – Here’s What They Plan” HERE)

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Somebody at DOJ Isn’t Telling the Truth About Rosenstein’s Subpoena Threats Against Congressional Staff

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Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein denied under oath he had threatened to subpoena congressional aides’ communications, but a DOJ spokesman had already admitted that was true in statements to multiple news outlets, claiming it was justified.

“Rosenstein threatened to ‘subpoena’ GOP-led committee in ‘chilling’ clash over records, emails show,” reported Catherine Herridge at Fox News. She quoted from multiple e-mails congressional staff sent to the House of Representatives’ Office of General Counsel after a January 2018 meeting with Rosenstein:

‘The DAG [Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein] criticized the Committee for sending our requests in writing and was further critical of the Committee’s request to have DOJ/FBI do the same when responding,’ the committee’s then-senior counsel for counterterrorism Kash Patel wrote to the House Office of General Counsel. ‘Going so far as to say that if the Committee likes being litigators, then ‘we [DOJ] too [are] litigators, and we will subpoena your records and your emails,’ referring to HPSCI [House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence] and Congress overall.’

A second House committee staffer at the meeting backed up Patel’s account, writing: ‘Let me just add that watching the Deputy Attorney General launch a sustained personal attack against a congressional staffer in retaliation for vigorous oversight was astonishing and disheartening. … Also, having the nation’s #1 (for these matters) law enforcement officer threaten to ‘subpoena your calls and emails’ was downright chilling.’

The Department of Justice confirmed that Rosenstein “put them on notice to retain relevant emails and text messages, and he hopes they did so.” The Justice spokesperson said Rosenstein “never threatened anyone in the room with a criminal investigation,” which hadn’t been claimed, but that the “Deputy Attorney General was making the point—after being threatened with contempt—that as an American citizen charged with the offense of contempt of Congress, he would have the right to defend himself, including requesting production of relevant emails and text messages and calling them as witnesses to demonstrate that their allegations are false.” (Read more from “Somebody at DOJ Isn’t Telling the Truth About Rosenstein’s Subpoena Threats Against Congressional Staff” HERE)

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Articles of Impeachment Drafted for Rosenstein

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By The Daily Wire. On Friday, Fox News reported that articles of impeachment have been drafted for Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, although they have not yet been officially filed.

Fox News’ congressional reporter Chad Pergram reported that the articles of impeachment have been drafted although it is not clear which lawmaker drafted the articles and it’s not clear if they will go to a committee or to the floor.

(Read more from “Articles of Impeachment Drafted for Rosenstein” HERE)

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What Happens If Trump Fires Rosenstein?

By Politico. Figuring out whether or when President Donald Trump will try to fire special counsel Robert Mueller is Washington’s favorite parlor game of the moment.

The easiest way for Trump to fire Mueller is to order someone else to do it — and the most obvious person to start with is Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who stepped in to oversee the federal probe into the Trump campaign’s ties with Russia after Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself last year.

When President Richard Nixon tried something similar in 1973, Attorney General Elliot Richardson resigned after refusing Nixon’s demand to fire Archibald Cox, who was investigating Watergate. Richardson’s deputy also rebuffed the order and resigned, leaving then-Solicitor General Robert Bork to ultimately carry out the deed. The bloodletting in the top ranks of the Justice Department came to be known as the Saturday Night Massacre.

Rosenstein said in congressional testimony last year that he would refuse to fire Mueller unless he’d engaged in some misconduct. “I would follow the regulation. If there were good cause, I would act. If there were no good cause, I would not,” Rosenstein told the House Judiciary Committee last December.

But an array of Trump allies — everyone from onetime campaign manager Corey Lewandowski to former strategist Steve Bannon — have urged Trump in recent days to fire Rosenstein, who authorized the raid earlier this week on longtime Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, provoking growing speculation that the deputy attorney general might be on his way out. The president met with Rosenstein at the White House on Thursday. (Read more from “What Happens If Trump Fires Rosenstein?” HERE)

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Impeachment for Rod Rosenstein?

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Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein could soon be held in contempt of Congress or even impeached if he fails to produce Russia- and Clinton-related records to Congress, a top Republican lawmaker said Saturday.

“I think that if he does not turn over the documents, that there are a growing number of us on Capitol Hill who believe that someone else needs to do the job. And what happens there is, constitutionally, we have some things that we can do,” North Carolina GOP Rep. Mark Meadows said to Fox News’ Jeanine Pirro in a Saturday night interview.

Meadows was responding to the Justice Department and FBI’s failure to meet Thursday’s deadline to turn over 1.2 million documents related to surveillance warrants granted against President Donald Trump’s former campaign adviser, Carter Page, the Hillary Clinton e-mail probe, and the FBI’s internal report recommending the firing of former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.

Virginia GOP Rep. and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte subpoenaed the documents on March 22. The agencies missed the April 5 deadline to produce the records, Meadows told Pirro . . .

In his interview, Meadows identified Trump appointee Rosenstein as the main roadblock in producing the records. Rosenstein is acting attorney general for the Russia investigation because of Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ recusal from the matter. (Read more from “Impeachment for Rod Rosenstein?” HERE)

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