Attorney General Rod Rosenstein believed the White House used him to help justify President Trump’s firing of FBI director James Comey last May
In related news, dog bites man.
What did he think the memo was going to be used for? I mean, it wasn’t some kind of academic endeavor.
But, whatever with the memo. He’s of utmost importance now. The Mueller investigation bodyguard.
The amount of government dysfunction visible in between the lines of the NYT article is … impressive.
Trump uses everyone like a Kleenex and requires his minions to do the same.
“Rosenstein did not consult with Sessions before deciding to appoint Mueller, a move that blindsided the attorney general and infuriated the President. Sources told the paper he made that step privately because he feared being fired by Trump.”
It sounds as if Rosenstein had the idea that Trump was already engaged in obstruction.
Also, as a bonus, if he felt used by Trump, and thereby offended, Rosenstein certainly got his payback. It never pays to tick off someone who knows far more about the system you work in than you do.
I am thinking more like another popular paper product. Enjoy the go!
What did he expect?
Republicans are basically un-American lying racist traitors. Fuck all those assholes. Wake up Rod.
Beat me to it. I never much liked Beevis and Butthead humor, but you almost can’t avoid those images when talking about the Trumpsters.
Um, do ya’ think, Gump? You’re just figuring this out now? Not the sharpest tool in the shed are ya’, Rod?
Note to Rod:
Duh!
You know…cool. This happened. We all saw it play out in real time. HOWEVER. This is not way justifies those two year olds throwing a tantrum in the House yesterday and DEMANDING, DAMMIT, that Rosenstein turn over EVERYTHING to them because, you know, they have OVERSIGHT!!! Fist pounding ensues. They were rude, incompetent, misinformed on THEIR duties and what Rosenstein ‘owes’ them. They trashed all other jobs in government and pretended THEY were the only ones that counted. Other than being a total embarrassment, it showed a basic LACK of understand of the Constitution and how it defines the jobs and duties of the THREE branches of government.
Rosenstein saw this as just a career stepping stone move that is not atypical at DOJ. They’re competitive and cut throat. But when Trump outed the real reason for firing Comey, he got embarrassed. He knew his credibility was at stake and that he could be fairly accused of being willfully naive about why Sessions wanted him involved in the process. He didn’t use the original memo from Miller which McGahn marked up, but I’m fairly certain he saw a copy of it, so he knew the corrupt intent involved. He rationalized and compartmentalized what he was doing, but Trump has a way of tying everyone in to his corruption. It’s how he gets his hooks into you and demands your loyalty. However, Rosenstein saw a way out and took it. Not every hero in the story is perfect. Rosenstein is one of them, but I do believe he has been a hero since appointing Mueller.
Jeez, Rod. Not to quick on the uptake are you?
”Sources told the paper he made that step privately because he feared being fired by Trump.”
Being fired is the least of Rosenstein’s worries now, given Trump, the Russian mob, and armed deplorables.
At this point, the man has more courage in his pinkie than all the GOP cowards in Congress combined.
(I know, I know…“low bar”.)
What the GOP nutcases in the House are doing is dangerous and fairly unprecedented to this degree, completely unprecedented. People are adking why they’re being given this classified info. Everyone knows what they’re up to! Uncharted territory, certainly. I hope there’s a plan.
But what about the comedian prank-calling Trump pretending to be Senator Menendez. Trump falls right into the trap.
At the beginning of the phone call, Trump referenced Menendez’s indictment on corruption charges, which ended in a hung jury last year before he was cleared of all charges this year.
“You went through a tough, tough situation, and I don’t think a very fair situation, but congratulations,” Trump said, according to the recording.
This is hilarious, Someone should call pretending to be Putin. Wouldn’t that be one for the ages!
Needless to say, the White House isn’t saying a word. Someone, maybe Nicolle, said the question that this juy asked sounded like ones Chuck Todd would use. The panel all laughed, but when asked, each refused to specify which questions they would ask.
The thing is, Comey probably did deserve to be fired, because his handling of the Clinton probe violated the rules. At the same time he was interfering in the election, he didn’t publicize an investigation of the other side, one that would have called Trump’s campaign into question the same way that was happening with Clinton. The FBI head is supposed to treat everyone fairly, and not supposed to editorialize when not filing charges, and not supposed to put out a statement right before an election. The fact that Comey did all this to make his behavior seem “fair” when Clinton won is just an additional layer of BS on top of it all…if any single person had the largest effect on the election it’s Comey.
Rosenstein might have justified his memo on all this, and he would have been quite right about it…whether he knew what was going to happen after or was in on it and tried to cover his ass by hiring Mueller we can’t say. I suspect Rosenstein realized shortly after he was brought in the level of corruption, and tagged in Mueller because he knew something would be found, and because Mueller’s investigation might put a lid on the corruption because of Trump administration fears of getting caught (this isn’t how things went obviously).
In front of Congress, it was pretty obvious that Rosenstein has lost patience with the Republicans and their attempts to cover up whatever went on…that’s good news as far as having something released instead of buried from the Mueller investigation. I hope Mueller does get some stuff done by early September and released, we need to hear from him before the election about how deep the corruption goes before people vote in another Trump rubber-stamp Congress.
Agree. As Steve Schmidt observed yesterday, Rosenstein has been a Profile in Courage since May 2017. He was also right in his criticism of Comey, as borne out by the recent IG report.
The first thing I thought when Comey made his statement on Clinton almost 2 years ago was OMG, she’s toast. But when he finished his statement by saying there was not enough evidence to indict (intent), I thought - he shouldn’t have said ONE WORD about an innocent person with so much at stake.
My opinion hasn’t changed. The end result is we got the second coming of Hitler and the transformation of the GOP into the Brown Shirts. We have got to figure out how to take this country back to some resemblance of normalcy. As Obama stated last night - EVERY concerned American needs to get out and vote in November 2018 and kick as many Brown Shirts out of office as possible, and then PRAY that Chief Justice John Roberts becomes a Profile in Courage and stands with Rosenstein and Mueller to bring justice back into relevance.
Gowdy is retiring, so he could take over at DOJ. If anyone can run a quick, thorough investigation, it’s Howdy Gowdy…
I will blame Trump for a lot, but turning the GOP into Brown Shirts is not one. They were already there waiting to vote for someone like him.