Posted on 06/11/2018 12:28:47 PM PDT by Magnatron
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley isn't backing down as the Justice Department rebuffs his repeated attempts to speak with the FBI agent whose interview with Michael Flynn was used to indict the ex-national security adviser in the Russia probe.
“This is no ordinary criminal case,” Grassley, R-Iowa, wrote in a June 6 letter to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. “Congress has a right to know the full story and to know it now.”
Grassley is pressing his request anew after the DOJ once again rejected his bid to speak with FBI Agent Joe Pientka and to obtain the FBI’s records of the interview.
Flynn pleaded guilty in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe to making false statements to the FBI in that interview. He also lost his job at the White House after he was said to have misled Vice President Pence about a discussion with then-Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Yes, of course, but they can help President Trump in a politically risky situation by charging Rosenstein and possibly Sessions with contempt of Congress for slow walking and redacting and even now directly refusing a subpoena. That would be a valuable support for the President, politically, to him to go ahead and fire some folks. More directly, the heads of the relevant committees could even recommend firings, based on the obstruction, and in Rosenstein’s case, even hiring Mueller in the first place and Rosenstein's multiple conflicts of interest.
Why should the DOJ even have the option of refusing? Can’t they jail refusing officials for contempt?
#9. Re “It’s called a subpoena, Chuck. Issue one!”
How about issue a dozen to those in DOJ who are refusing to comply with a congressional request or demand letter? Make everyone who is involved in the obfuscation/delay/redaction process, under oath, tell who gave them the orders and exactly when and what were they.
let’s rip the guts out of the “top” obstructors in DOJ, no matter who they are. And no immunity from prosecution unless they tell all and provide all requested information.
Stand Up, Chuck!
Can’t they Subpoena him?
“It wouldn’t explain why he hasn’t followed upon evidence that might...”
The explanation is in the word “might”. Flynn has a deal he evidently can live with, and some hope that his case and Mueller’s entire game will unravel without additional risk to himself. Legal action now would gamble with the future of his family, spend resources he doesn’t have against a ruthless foe with unlimited budgets, and potentially leave him in prison. From Flynn’s perspective, sitting tight might be his best option.
Grassley might want to help Flynn, but his likely motive is to catch the FBI and Mueller in conduct so perfidious that it will destroy any credibility they might retain. If the 302s were forged in this case, how credible are they against Papadopoulos, Page, etc.? The whole house collapses. If it comes out that Flynn is really being punished for undermining the CIA’s anti-Erdogan machinations, that’s a major bonus since it shows Mueller settling CIA scores instead of his approved scope. If pressure forces the DoJ to indict corrupt officials to get him off their backs, he can live with that too.
“1935.”
Which is exactly why nobody takes the power seriously anymore.
“Only the President can assert executive privilege.”
Others in the Executive Branch have invoked it in the past and gotten away with it, so that really isn’t established. In fact, Steve Bannon recently asserted it to Congress and at the time he wasn’t even employed by the government at all.
This this this this this. So much this.
Just do it. The wild noise generated from the revelations will easily drown out the pipsqueak sec wonks who get 2 seconds of air time to complain about the reveal itself.
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