Deputy AG Rosenstein: No reason to fire Mueller – IOTW Report

Deputy AG Rosenstein: No reason to fire Mueller

WT:Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said Wednesday he has not seen any reason to fire special counsel Robert Mueller during the course of the Russia investigation, despite the emergence of text messages that show officials working on the probe disliked President Trump.

Mr. Rosenstein was in the hot seat to address questions from members of the House Judiciary Committee about the special counsel investigation the day after text messages were made public that detail the disdain two former members of the Mueller team had for President Trump.

“Did Mr. Mueller take appropriate action in this case?” asked Rep. Jerrold Nadler, New York Democrat, referring to Mr. Mueller’s removal of the officials in question.

“Yes, he did,” Mr. Rosenstein said.

“Have you seen good cause to fire special counsel Mueller?” Mr. Nadler asked.

“No,” Mr. Rosenstein said.

“If you were ordered today to fire Mr. Mueller, what would you do?” Mr. Nadler said.

“As I explained previously, I would follow the regulation. If there were good cause I would act, if there were no good cause I would not,” Mr. Rosenstein said.

The special counsel team is investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and possible coordination with Trump campaign associations.

The deputy attorney general has oversight of the Mueller investigation as a result of Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ recusal.

One of the investigators, FBI counterintelligence official Peter Strzok, was removed from the Mueller team over the summer after the messages were discovered during an internal investigation. The other, FBI lawyer Lisa Page, was only temporarily detailed to the team and was no longer working on it when the text messages were found.

Mr. Strzok also led last year’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server. He was also one of two agents who would eventually interview former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.  more

26 Comments on Deputy AG Rosenstein: No reason to fire Mueller

  1. Rosenstein is going to wait for the OIG report to come out. Depending on what’s in that report, Mueller may want to shut down his own “investigation” before he has to prosecute his old FBI buddies.

  2. Sessions needs to withdraw his recusal and fire this guy, or Trump needs to remove Sessions. Somebody sure as hell needs to do something as this crap has gotten beyond ridiculous.

  3. I like Jim Jordan, but I would have liked to see him ask direct questions and then get an answer. I got the impression he was so outraged by the whole mess that all he could do is vent his frustration, and he used up most of his time venting. How in the world can Trump and Sessions let this farce of an investigation continue?

  4. @bad Brad. Do not get me wrong. I’m a big Jordan fan, but he has fallen into the bloviation trap.
    The endless lecturing gets in the way of the questioning. Pose pointed and brief questions.

  5. Jordan is a very down to earth guy. We sat next to each other at breakfast and he wouldn’t let me stand to shake his hand, saying that I pay his salary. I liked him a lot. But he might have been in Congress too long. These guys usually start with “I’ll be brief….”. Oh. Here we go.

  6. Joe6pak

    I watched a good portion of this today. I don’t recommend doing that. It’s pretty damn depressing. However the reason Jordan was not asking him direct questions was Rosenstein wasn’t answering anybodies questions really. The Dems were after Rosenstein ass though. If you didn’t know better you’d swear Rosenstein was on our side.

  7. Brad, I’ll bet you needed a drink after watching more than 5 minutes of that. I wonder why the libs where going after him. Maybe they are going to try and present themselves as the law and order party.

  8. Come on, it’s all made for TV appearances.
    Jordan and Gowdy competently outlined (for public consumption) the political motivations, individuals, questions, distrust and time lines of the Failures of the DOJ and FBI.

    Honestly, when was the last time Congress actually got any straight answers that resulted in anyone being held accountable and prosecuted?

  9. Here’s a little known fact. Rosenstein was also an actor back in the day. In this old Bonanza episode, he was playing himself (a sneak thief and generally dishonest, east coast dandy) as a character named “Jake the Weasel” ……. or is Jake the Weasel his real name and he is now playing a similar character named Rod Rosenstein in the bad movie that is the DOJ / FBI these days?

    To see him state his real name, skip to about 38:50 in the video and watch about 20 seconds. He still looks the same today.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxpsvZkKq8E

  10. @Bad
    Other than being notorious shedders, Yellows are very trainable, don’t eat their own poops, but like many in the D.C. Swamp WILL EAT any other poop left behind. Ours had a particular affinity for rabbit!

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