Politics US Politics
Rod Rosenstein’s devastating admissions
Rod Rosenstein’s devastating admissions
If the worst allegations are proven, they will reveal one of the most far-reaching political scandals in American history
Rod Rosenstein’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee was quiet, calm, almost bemused. But the tale he told was devastating — to the FBI, the Department of Justice, and the Mueller investigation. It destroyed three years of media narrative about ‘Trump-Russia’ collusion. It’s obvious now why Senate Democrats want to kill all future hearings on the topic. They lack the votes to do it, but it’s the thought that counts.
Testifying under oath, Rosenstein laid out a series of fundamental problems plaguing the entire collusion investigation. Actually, he did even more. When questioned by Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, Rosenstein agreed that when he appointed Robert Mueller as Special Counsel in summer 2017, there was no basis for the appointment and that the FBI already knew it. In retrospect, he says, he appointed a Special Counsel because the FBI hid crucial fact facts from him. They vigorously deny it.
This back-and-forth signals a fight, sure to intensify, over who is to blame for multiple investigations gone badly wrong. Will primary responsibility fall on the FBI or Department of Justice? The intelligence agencies? Or the Obama White House and its National Security team?
Rosenstein is a central figure in this clash since he was number two at the Department of Justice after Trump took office. Because Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from investigations involving Russia, Rosenstein oversaw them. He supervised the FBI probes, recommended the firing of Director James Comey and the appointment of his successor, Christopher Wray, decided to appoint a Special Counsel, and chose former FBI director Robert Mueller for the job. The FBI and Mueller’s team conducted the actual investigations, but Rosenstein was their ultimate supervisor, the guarantor of their probity. His testimony shows he played that role with the careful attention to detail normally associated with teenage babysitters texting their friends rather than watching their charges. ‘You kids just take care of yourselves. I trust you.’
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Rod Rosenstein’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee was quiet, calm, almost bemused. But the tale he told was devastating — to the FBI, the Department of Justice, and the Mueller investigation. It destroyed three years of media narrative about ‘Trump-Russia’ collusion. It’s obvious now why Senate Democrats want to kill all future hearings on the topic. They lack the votes to do it, but it’s the thought that counts.
Testifying under oath, Rosenstein laid out a series of fundamental problems plaguing the entire collusion investigation. Actually, he did even more. When questioned by Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, Rosenstein agreed that when he appointed Robert Mueller as Special Counsel in summer 2017, there was no basis for the appointment and that the FBI already knew it. In retrospect, he says, he appointed a Special Counsel because the FBI hid crucial fact facts from him. They vigorously deny it.
This back-and-forth signals a fight, sure to intensify, over who is to blame for multiple investigations gone badly wrong. Will primary responsibility fall on the FBI or Department of Justice? The intelligence agencies? Or the Obama White House and its National Security team?
Rosenstein is a central figure in this clash since he was number two at the Department of Justice after Trump took office. Because Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from investigations involving Russia, Rosenstein oversaw them. He supervised the FBI probes, recommended the firing of Director James Comey and the appointment of his successor, Christopher Wray, decided to appoint a Special Counsel, and chose former FBI director Robert Mueller for the job. The FBI and Mueller’s team conducted the actual investigations, but Rosenstein was their ultimate supervisor, the guarantor of their probity. His testimony shows he played that role with the careful attention to detail normally associated with teenage babysitters texting their friends rather than watching their charges. ‘You kids just take care of yourselves. I trust you.’
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