Posted on 09/23/2018 12:19:49 PM PDT by yesthatjallen
Republicans on Sunday seized on reports that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein last year proposed secretly recording President Trump, in order to renew calls for a special counsel investigation of alleged bias within the Department of Justice (DOJ).
[Trump] shouldnt fire Rosenstein unless you believe Rosensteins lying. He said he did not do the things alleged, but theres a bureaucratic coup against President Trump being discovered here, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said on Fox News Sunday.
Before the election, the people in question tried to taint the election, tip it in [Hillary] Clintons favor; after the election theyre trying to undermine the president, he charged.
Republican lawmakers and multiple Trump administration officials were asked on Sunday talk shows about a New York Times report Friday that said Rosenstein suggested wearing a wire during conversations with the president last spring. He also reportedly proposed recruiting Cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.
Rosenstein has denied the report.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley called the idea "absurd" and told ABC's "This Week" she was never part of such an effort.
"I've never heard of it, I don't think that's a reality at all among all the Cabinet members," she said.
But the Times report added further kindling to what has long been a fiery relationship between Trump and the Department of Justice. The president has in the past directly criticized Rosenstein, who is overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
The president's allies on Sunday refrained from calling for Rosenstein to be fired based on the report alone, but suggested it would be a fireable offense if true, and used the allegations as ammunition for further claims that the DOJ sought to undercut Trump.
Graham suggested that the report played into a larger narrative of DOJ bias against the president that involves former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, department official Bruce Ohr and former FBI employees Peter Strzok and Lisa Page.
I dont know what Rosenstein did but I know what McCabe, Ohr, Page and Strzok did," Graham said. "They tried to destroy this president."
"If Rosensteins involved he should be fired, if hes not involved leave him alone, but he cant make that decision," he continued. "We need a special counsel to look at this, not [Michael] Horowitz, the [inspector general]. Rosensteins doing the country a great disservice by not appointing a special counsel to look at all of this."
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), who had previously called for a second special counsel to investigate alleged FBI abuse of a surveillance program, also revived those calls on Sunday.
"I will repeat again what I have said for many months now, and that is that the attorney general of the United States needs to appoint a special counsel to look into all of this," Goodlatte said on Fox News's "Sunday Morning Futures."
Goodlatte is among the GOP lawmakers at the forefront of a push to declassify documents related to the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Trump last week ordered the DOJ to declassify a number of documents related to the investigation, but later delayed their release after he said "key allies" raised concerns.
Goodlatte vowed Sunday to subpoena the DOJ over the documents if they were not released on Monday or Tuesday. The materials, he said, would include memos from McCabe that are said to have laid out the claims that Rosenstein proposed recording Trump.
"I think it is very, very important that the American people get access to the information that underlies all this," Goodlatte said.
Rosenstein denied the claims laid out in the Times report, which cited unnamed sources, calling it "inaccurate and factually incorrect. He added that "there is no basis to invoke the 25th Amendment" based on his dealings with Trump.
The Washington Post later also reported that Rosenstein suggested surreptitiously recording the president. However, the Post cited an unnamed official who attended the meeting and claimed the remark was made in jest and came in response to McCabe's suggestion that the DOJ probe Trump after he fired ex-FBI Director James Comey.
"It's not a very funny joke," Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) said on "Fox News Sunday."
Gowdy, who has also previously called for a second special counsel to look into alleged surveillance abuses, cautioned that Rosenstein deserves an opportunity to share his version of events.
"Find out who else, if anyone, was in the room and then give Rod a chance to explain whether or not it's true and the context in which it was said," he said. "But one thing thats clear whether you're Republican or Democrat president, you have a right to a deputy attorney general that doesn't think you're incompetent and doesn't feel the need to audio tape conversations with you."
Trump Cabinet officials largely avoided weighing in on Rosenstein specifically, but addressed the broader issue of whether administration officials were undermining the president.
"I've been pretty clear since my beginning of service here in this administration, if you can't be on the team, if you're not supporting this mission, then maybe you've just got to find something else to do," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on "Fox News Sunday."
Haley downplayed the Mueller investigation and "gossip of the day" as distractions from the administration's successes.
"Im there almost every other week and I can tell you never has anyone talked about the 25th Amendment, never has anyone even questioned the presidents mental stability or anything," Haley said on "This Week."
no such ‘ammo against DOJ’ is needed
none at all
we just need our president to Drain the Swamp!
like he promised 2 years ago
and DOJ as bad as it is, is probably not the very worst .. try the Snake Department, intelligence agencies, defense since Obama, etc...
Wow, Graham actually used the coup word
Has Jeff Sessions fired Rod Rosenstein yet? You’d think these scumbags would resign in shame but that would belie their mission to take down the Trump presidency.
“It’s not a very funny joke,” Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Trey Gowdy is a fargin joke...
“If it looks like a duck...”
If you’re referring to Sessions, it looks more like an old Alabama Cracker!
Jeeze, these guys couldn’t find their own asses with two hands and a flashlight or they’re intentionally playing stupid.
Plenty of exposing. Not enough criminal charges.
Or indictments.
What do you think he (they) is doing?
I dont know what Rosenstein did but I know what McCabe, Ohr, Page and Strzok did,” Graham said. “They tried to destroy this president.”
Rosenstein signed the fisa warrant application on carter page(which he KNEW was fraudulent) and put the mueller coup into motion you limp-wristed ball gargling asspirate. He’s a high treason co-conspirator
Rosenstain.
Until Graham understands what Rosenstein has done, Graham isn't fully on board in draining the swamp.
Mueller and his entire group are still there, as are Rosensetein and we have heard nothing about the necessary swamp draining at Snake Dept, defense since Obama put his agents in there, etc.
we both want same positive results....
as do most Americans...
we just haven’t seen very much of it happen yet...????????
This should be story number 1 but it’s being overshadowed by the Kavanaugh circus. Has Sessions said anything about this yet? I can’t find anything. I was expecting him to come out in support of his good buddy again but this maybe a bridge too far.
“If Rosensteins involved he should be fired, if hes not involved leave him alone, but he cant make that decision,” he continued. “We need a special counsel to look at this, not [Michael] Horowitz, the [inspector general]. Rosensteins doing the country a great disservice by not appointing a special counsel to look at all of this.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jeff Sessions should appoint the second special counsel.
Does anyone think Rosenstein is going to appoint one to look into himself?
At this critical moment in America's history, all lovers of individual liberty and all who love the American 1787 Constitution's limits on government power must arise to defend it against all enemies.
- "If the LEGISLATIVE and JUDICIAL powers are united, the MAKER of the law will also INTERPRET it (constitutionality).
- Should the EXECUTIVE and LEGISLATIVE powers be united... the EXECUTIVE power would make itself absolute, and the government end in tyranny.
- Should the EXECUTIVE and JUDICIAL powers be united, the subject (citizen) would then have no permanent security of his person or property."
"INDEED, the dependence of any of these powers upon either of the others ... has so often been productive of such calamities... that the page of history seems to be one continued tale of human wretchedness." (Theophilus Parsons, ESSEX RESULTS)What were some of these checks and balances believed so important to individual liberty? Several are listed below:
Bttt.
5.56mm
Democrats use DOJ as a weapon against the American people and their political opponents in Washington.
Republicans use the DOJ to shoot themselves in the foot.
Exactly.
Sessions is not recused from this issue, and should do the job he was hired, and is being paid, for.
Exactly.
Sessions is not recused from this issue, and should do the job he was hired, and is being paid, for.
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