Okay ... my “RR = John Dean” theory crashed and burned.
I don’t think RR was a BH ... but no WH either.
He never let the RATs bait him into a single statement against Trump ... but he also never admitted there was a criminal conspiracy against the campaign and the Presidency.
Oh my gosh, RR & Graham are SO SURE THE RUSSIANS ARE BAD; hacked the poor victimized DNC etc. ... BARF.
RR stated he was “Accountable,” but not to blame for the “17” things that went wrong according to the I.G.
Closest he came to a John Dean moment was lamely pointing the finger at McCabe for “Not being candid.”
He did say Barr & Durham are handling stuff now.
RR may not have intended to do any harm ... but drenched the whole hearing with the slime of a bottom-dwelling swamp critter.
Not a Black Hat; but, if he’s a WH I’m cutting him from my team.
Ted Cruz rather effectively gave RR a choice, either he was complicit (which Cruz said he doesn’t believe is the case), or he is “grossly negligent”. RR did not vehemently disagree, and obviously took what was behind Door #2. The reason why is obvious: you can be a horses#it Deputy or Acting AG - you can even be “grossly negligent” in how you do certain aspects of your job, but you don’t get fired or lose your pension or face criminal charges for it. All that happens is maybe you look a little dumb and your public opinion ratings go down with people who don’t like you anyway. But it’s the safe way out.
Some have been critical of RR for not asking questions or probing into the facts presented to him for approval, and thereby putting the blame on him. OK, fair enough, the buck stops somewhere. But it’s pretty much moot, because again, it’s not illegal to be lousy at your job. And there is some truth in what he said, which is obvious to anyone who has experience with how executives work. And that’s what RR was, an executive who spent most of his time in meetings - not an investigator or researcher. The closest people like him come to doing what many would call “real work” is answering emails and taking phone calls they can’t delegate to anyone else.
Because of the levels of authority that are present in any large organization, he had to sign off on stuff that was prepared by his staff and others, and he said he counted on them having followed the law and done so properly. Again, you can call him a dope for taking that view but you’ll never get him charged with any crime because it’s not against any law. Same reason most corporate CEOs avoid personal accountability unless they really run the train off the tracks.
Feel free to disagree, and I’m not arguing hat color, just the realities of current laws and organizatonal norms that I have pointed out before.