Posted on 06/30/2018 12:45:05 PM PDT by Meet the New Boss
‘You’re the boss.”
That was Representative Jim Jordan’s terse rejoinder during a feisty exchange with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein at the House Judiciary Committee’s oversight hearing on Thursday. The Ohio Republican was blasting Rosenstein over information Republicans say Justice Department officials have concealed from Congress for a year.
snip
These calls were made by subordinates, Rosenstein DAG-splained.
“They work for you,” Jordan bluntly replied.
...while House Republicans revel in reminding anyone who will listen that DOJ’s intransigent middle managers work for Rosenstein, they never quite get around to mentioning that Rosenstein works for President Trump. The president is better positioned than the DAG to order more transparency. And if the “witch hunt” narrative is valid, the president would be the chief beneficiary of more transparency. Yet, for all his Twitter bombast, Trump abstains . . . and then House Republicans dutifully target their ire at Rosenstein.
snip
The information at issue relates, in part, to the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation of Russia’s interference in the 2016 election — and specifically when and why the Obama administration monitored the Trump campaign on suspicion of “coordination” in the Kremlin’s perfidy. Also on demand are documents pertinent to the Hillary Clinton emails investigation.
The hearing was extraordinarily frustrating because counterintelligence investigations are always classified and the one involving Russia is still ongoing. Moreover, the Justice Department always resists making disclosures about pending investigations, and here several are germane....
snip
[Rosenstein] is not a guy who sounds like he has it in for Donald Trump.
...Call me crazy, but I sense that the deputy attorney general sees the Trump phase of the Mueller investigation — the probe of “collusion” and obstruction — drawing to a close without allegations of crime.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
For example, McCarthy describes the appointment by Rosenstein of Mueller as a "misstep." Um no. This was the conscious next step in the "insurance policy" by DOJ/FBI against the Trump presidency and Rosenstein was playing his part.
What is obvious to many of us is that the Obama DOJ/FBI was illegally launching entrapment schemes against the Trump campaign, in particular trying to create evidence for the crime of attempting to purchase stolen property (hacked Hillary emails) among other things. But that doesn't seem obvious to McCarthy.
The Obama admin ran agents provocateur (e.g. Greenburg and Mifsud) at the Trump campaign to try to create crimes, tried to infiltrate their spies into campaign positions (e.g. Halper tried to get hired as a foreign policy advisor) and used government surveillance tools to learn everything that was going on inside the Trump campaign in real time.
These are government crimes committed by the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and probably by the Central Intelligence Agency and foreign intelligence agencies as well.
But McCarthy just cannot overcome his presumption that DOJ/FBI actions are proper.
Here's a question for McCarthy: let's suppose that I am right, and the DOJ/FBI has actually committed crimes here.
Do you believe the DOJ still has the legal right to withhold information relating to these DOJ/FBI crimes from Congress on the grounds of "ongoing investigation of Russia" and "national security"?
Or would it not be criminal obstruction to withhold under those circumstances?
Is it not now clear why Rosenstein is claiming that subordinates are the one making the decisions on redactions, etc., and he has no personal knowledge of it? Because he understands the game they are playing with respect to concealing DOJ/FBI crimes.
And McCarthy blames Trump for not ordering the DOJ to cooperate and provide more transparency. He tried that already! Remember the meeting in which Kelly ordered the DOJ to be more transparent? Yet nothing really changed except more blowing of smoke.
The only way to get the DOJ to surrender evidence of its crimes is to put someone at the top who is NOT a DOJ lifer and not joined at the hip with Mueller, Comey, Rosenstein and the other lifers. The loyalty of these people is not to the country or the rule of law but to the amour propre of the DOJ.
And if Trump fires Sessions and Rosenstein, his lawyers have advised him that would be worse than firing Comey in respect of grist for impeachment, and the RINOs have told him they will not confirm anyone for him.
McCarthy's sense that Rosenstein is trying to wrap up the Mueller fishing and entrapment effort against Trump may be correct, but not because Rosenstein is acting in good faith.
It is because the corrupt DOJ/FBI establishment and their Dem/GOPe allies are sensing that the longer this goes on, the more risk of DOJ/FBI crimes being exposed.
McCarthy, you're crazy - not because Mueller may end up not being able to charge Trump with crime, but because you can't wrap your mind around the scope and seriousness of DOJ/FBI wrongdoing.
Looks like Andy’s back in the doghouse.
It’s a cloudy day at the DOJ.
Hard to know anything for sure but maybe the Fisa documents will shed some light on the weasel.
Excellent post. Sums it up well.
“You’re the boss.”
Of course.,,Sessions sure as hell isn’t.
“while House Republicans revel in reminding anyone who will listen that DOJ’s intransigent middle managers work for Rosenstein, they never quite get around to mentioning that Rosenstein works for President Trump.”
He works for Mueller.
Sessions ‘redacted’ himself from this sorry story.
2) Refusal to take responsibility for unlawful redactions and unlawful delays in handing information to Congress
3) Refusal to take responsibility for supervision of his own staff working on highly sensitive investigations
Hearing him stress to Rep. Jordan “ I am the Deputy Attorney General” after all these denials is sickening.
America deserves better! Fire his arrogant fanny.
Maybe someone sent him a package with a door knob and a red scarf inside
When the history is written he will...maybe...be a footnote.
Rosenstein is dirty and should be fired. Wray is obviously a cover up expert and not very good at it. When this is all over he should move on. Maybe go on a book tour like Comey. As for Mule Face, he is a detriment to our country. His self importance is staggering and his ego dwarfs the needs of our country. Trump is innocent and we need him working on making America great and draining the swamp. PDT is already one of our greatest all time presidents. Clear these swamp creatures out and he will be our greatest president. God Bless America.
Good post by you. McCarthy is often too close to the swamp to be objective. But he’s been coming around lately.
And Trump has many bigger fish to fry, so he put Kelly in charge of getting the docs released. Kelly blew it.
I like the idea one freeper linked to a couple days ago. Trump should order all docs in question released to the White House Counsel’s office, and let them be the arbiter on redactions and production. Just for the most critical ones, like the FISA aps and 302’s. Thoughts?
Hearings and hearings and hearings and even more hearings.
But the major criminals are still walking around laughing at us.
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