Senate Republicans hold hearings to help Trump's obstruction of the Russian investigation, which has shown he is a criminal.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is defending his decision to appoint a special counsel to scrutinize ties between Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Russia, telling senators Wednesday that he thought it was the best way to complete the investigation appropriately and ensure public confidence in its conclusions.

Rosenstein was appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee at the first in a series of oversight hearings that coincide with accelerated election-year efforts to review the FBI’s Russia investigation.

Republican allies of the president have taken fresh aim in recent months at that investigation and at the law enforcement and intelligence officials who conducted it. They point to newly declassified information to allege that Trump and his associates were unfairly pursued, and are at time advancing unsupported theories against Obama administration officials. They also are claiming vindication from the Justice Department’s decision to drop its case against Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser.

The hearing, called by the committee chairman, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is also a GOP effort to refocus public attention on the Russia investigation at a time when Trump is facing public scrutiny over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and unrest in American cities set off by the death of George Floyd.

Though Rosenstein was a Trump appointee, he has often been regarded with suspicion by many supporters of the president, and Trump himself, for his role in the Russia investigation. Rosenstein’s fate was most dramatically in limbo in September 2018 after it was revealed that he had floated the idea of wearing a wire inside the White House to record conversations with Trump.

Rosenstein assumed oversight of the Russia investigation after then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions withdrew from the inquiry. Rosenstein appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller as special counsel and then spent most of the next two years supervising his work, including approving key decisions, testifying in his defense and announcing criminal charges against Russians.

In his opening statement to the committee, Rosenstein planned to say that “as a result of events that followed the departure of the FBI director, I was concerned that the public would not have confidence in the investigation and that the acting FBI director was not the right person to lead it.”

“I decided that appointing a special counsel was the best way to complete the investigation appropriately and promote public confidence in its conclusions,” according to his prepared remarks.

Mueller’s report last year detailed significant contacts between Russia and the Trump campaign but did not allege a criminal conspiracy to sway the election. It examined about a dozen episodes for potential obstruction of justice by Trump, but did not reach a conclusion as to whether he broke the law, in part because Justice Department policy bars the indictment of sitting presidents.

Allies of the president in the last year have moved aggressively to rewrite the narrative of the investigation, particularly after a Justice Department inspector general report from last December identified significant errors and omissions in FBI applications to eavesdrop on a former Trump campaign aide.

Rosenstein approved one of those applications. The inspector general’s report said senior Justice Department officials were given incomplete information by the FBI.

“Every application that I approved appeared to be justified based on the facts it alleged, and the FBI was supposed to be following protocols to ensure that every fact was verified,” according to Rosenstein’s prepared remarks.

Flynn admitted lying to the FBI about his conversations with the Russian ambassador during the presidential transition period regarding U.S. sanctions. The Justice Department moved to dismiss the case last month, saying Flynn’s contacts with the diplomat were entirely appropriate and that the FBI had insufficient basis to interview him.

Graham has also questioned whether Mueller should have been appointed at all.

Click to expand...

hanimmal said:

Currently on tap: Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein:

I am not sure what narrative Trump was trying to bury with his dictator stunt, but he has his work cut out for him trying to discredit the Russian investigation that shown Trump was indeed a criminal, and obstructed congress to hide it like he did with Ukraine and got impeached for it.


Doesn't seem like he will get much help from Rod.
https://apnews.com/eb894ccea09df2ea4baa2da02694f8d5
View attachment 4584105


All this remember is to help Trump once he is out of office, because he will have charges brought when he gets out of office.

Click to expand...

DIY-HP-LED said:

I figure if ya win it all in November there will be many commissions, special prosecutors, grand juries, blue ribbon panels, etc. there will be more than enough to go around, freshmen congress people will be on committees or subcommittees too. Thousands of pissed off former prosecutors and DOJ officials will suddenly have jobs and a mission in life. For decades after Washington Lawyers will call it "the happy time" as they cleaned out republicans and Trump's minions for every fucking dime they have, while they fight for their lives and freedom in a court of law. And they all lived happily ever after, except those who followed Donald the pied piper to Hell.

Click to expand...

(CNN)Statement by Andrew McCabe:

I have been an FBI Special Agent for over 21 years. I spent half of that time investigating Russian Organized Crime as a street agent and Supervisor in New York City. I have spent the second half of my career focusing on national security issues and protecting this country from terrorism. I served in some of the most challenging, demanding investigative and leadership roles in the FBI. And I was privileged to serve as Deputy Director during a particularly tough time.

For the last year and a half, my family and I have been the targets of an unrelenting assault on our reputation and my service to this country. Articles too numerous to count have leveled every sort of false, defamatory and degrading allegation against us. The President's tweets have amplified and exacerbated it all. He called for my firing. He called for me to be stripped of my pension after more than 20 years of service. And all along we have said nothing, never wanting to distract from the mission of the FBI by addressing the lies told and repeated about us.

No more.

The investigation by the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General (OIG) has to be understood in the context of the attacks on my credibility.
The investigation flows from my attempt to explain the FBI's involvement and my supervision of investigations involving Hillary Clinton. I was being portrayed in the media over and over as a political partisan, accused of closing down investigations under political pressure. The FBI was portrayed as caving under that pressure, and making decisions for political rather than law enforcement purposes. Nothing was further from the truth. In fact, this entire investigation stems from my efforts, fully authorized under FBI rules, to set the record straight on behalf of the Bureau, and to make clear that we were continuing an investigation that people in DOJ opposed.

The OIG investigation has focused on information I chose to share with a reporter through my public affairs officer and a legal counselor. As Deputy Director, I was one of only a few people who had the authority to do that. It was not a secret, it took place over several days, and others, including the Director, were aware of the interaction with the reporter. It was the type of exchange with the media that the Deputy Director oversees several times per week. In fact, it was the same type of work that I continued to do under Director Wray, at his request. The investigation subsequently focused on who I talked to, when I talked to them, and so forth. During these inquiries, I answered questions truthfully and as accurately as I could amidst the chaos that surrounded me. And when I thought my answers were misunderstood, I contacted investigators to correct them.

But looking at that in isolation completely misses the big picture. The big picture is a tale of what can happen when law enforcement is politicized, public servants are attacked, and people who are supposed to cherish and protect our institutions become instruments for damaging those institutions and people.

Here is the reality: I am being singled out and treated this way because of the role I played, the actions I took, and the events I witnessed in the aftermath of the firing of James Comey. The release of this report was accelerated only after my testimony to the House Intelligence Committee revealed that I would corroborate former Director Comey's accounts of his discussions with the President. The OIG's focus on me and this report became a part of an unprecedented effort by the Administration, driven by the President himself, to remove me from my position, destroy my reputation, and possibly strip me of a pension that I worked 21 years to earn. The accelerated release of the report, and the punitive actions taken in response, make sense only when viewed through this lens. Thursday's comments from the White House are just the latest example of this.
This attack on my credibility is one part of a larger effort not just to slander me personally, but to taint the FBI, law enforcement, and intelligence professionals more generally. It is part of this Administration's ongoing war on the FBI and the efforts of the Special Counsel investigation, which continue to this day. Their persistence in this campaign only highlights the importance of the Special Counsel's work.

I have always prided myself on serving my country with distinction and integrity, and I always encouraged those around me to do the same. Just ask them. To have my career end in this way, and to be accused of lacking candor when at worst I was distracted in the midst of chaotic events, is incredibly disappointing and unfair. But it will not erase the important work I was privileged to be a part of, the results of which will in the end be revealed for the country to see.

I have unfailing faith in the men and women of the FBI and I am confident that their efforts to seek justice will not be deterred.

Click to expand...

hanimmal said:

Can anyone actually listen to Peter Strzok's texts with Lisa Paige and not think to themselves, 'yup', to everything they said?.

Kennedy has lost all credibility he had when Dear Leader tugged on his leash after he talked not glowingly about Trump's horrible judges.

He just spews 6 minutes of Trump's cult logic asking nothing, adding nothing to this important, and Lindsay Graham lets Rosenstein go on for a couple more minutes on it. Making sure he said that 'fortunately we are at the conclusion and that no American conspired with the Russians'. But planted a little bit later, 'But more information may come to light that changes things'. It is fun watching intelligence officials testify, they are very squiggly.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/16/politics/mccabe-fired-statement-fbi-deputy-director/index.html
View attachment 4586327


It was fun to watch Rod Rosenstein backpedal when Graham read it to him at the end of the hearing to respond to it.

Click to expand...

schuylaar said:

maybe he didn't speak while at Oxford? @Lucky Luke ..what are Oxford rulez on hillbilly speak?..maybe he had teeth back them- i don't know.

Click to expand...

schuylaar said:

not if he's pardoned to make him leave.

he's going to keep the double-down up all the way to november and we will have to give him something to make him go away (or it's ended for us)..this is how he conducted himself prior to presidency..this is his MO, conduct so outrageous people are willing to do ANYTHING to get rid of him..there are horror stories about this practice.

Click to expand...

Lucky Luke said:

No idea, you may have to ask either someone who has been there or an English person.

I do know that one of Australia's greatest prime ministers Bob Hawk did hold the beer drinking record there. Wouldn't surprise me if he still does.

Click to expand...