{"id":64564,"date":"2018-05-02T05:20:08","date_gmt":"2018-05-02T05:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=64564"},"modified":"2018-05-02T05:20:08","modified_gmt":"2018-05-02T05:20:08","slug":"department-justice-not-going-extorted-rosenstein-responds-impeachment-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/news\/department-justice-not-going-extorted-rosenstein-responds-impeachment-threat.html","title":{"rendered":"he Department of Justice is not going to be extorted’: Rosenstein responds to impeachment threat"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Department of Justice is not going to be extorted’: Rosenstein responds to impeachment threat<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein took aim Tuesday at Republican lawmakers who have drafted articles of impeachment against him, saying that he would not comment on documents \u201cthat nobody has the courage to put their name on\u201d and asserting that he will not change his behavior in the face of threats.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think they should understand by now that the Department of Justice is not going to be extorted,\u201d Rosenstein said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to do what\u2019s required by the rule of law, and any kind of threats that anybody makes are not going to affect the way we do our job.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Rosenstein\u2019s comments came at the end of a wide-ranging conversation at the Newseum in Washington to commemorate Law Day, which happened to fall a day after The Washington Post reported that conservative allies of President Trump had drafted impeachment articles against the Justice Department\u2019s No. 2 official.<\/span><\/p>\n

Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus \u2014 led by Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) \u2014 have been in a long-running feud with Rosenstein and the Justice Department over what they see as a failure to turn over documents on a number of controversial topics, including the surveillance of former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.<\/span><\/p>\n

In recent days, they finalized a draft of the impeachment articles, which criticize Rosenstein for approving the warrant to monitor Page, and then failing to turn over requested documents.<\/span><\/p>\n

[Trump-allied House conservatives draft articles of impeachment against Rosenstein as \u2018last resort\u2019]<\/span><\/p>\n

In a statement, Meadows said Rosenstein\u2019s \u201cresponse to the draft articles of impeachment is reminiscent of our interactions with him over the past few months: a lot of rhetoric with little facts.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf he believes being asked to do his job is \u2018extortion,\u2019 then Rod Rosenstein should step aside and allow us to find a new Deputy Attorney General \u2014 preferably one who is interested in transparency,\u201d Meadows said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Freedom Caucus is one of the more influential blocs in Congress, though to impeach Rosenstein, its members would need the buy-in of House or Judiciary Committee leadership, and then they would have to win over a majority of members. Removing Rosenstein would require a two-thirds majority in the Senate \u2014 which would be nigh impossible.<\/span><\/p>\n

Critics see the move as an effort to pressure the Justice Department to turn over documents it shouldn\u2019t, or detract from special counsel Robert S. Mueller III\u2019s probe into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with the Kremlin to influence the 2016 election. Rosenstein supervises that probe, because Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from it. The deputy attorney general has in recent weeks become a particular focus of the president\u2019s rage.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rosenstein for the most part avoided addressing that and other controversial topics Tuesday.<\/span><\/p>\n

Asked in tangential ways about Trump\u2019s recent threats to get more involved at the Justice Department, in part over his anger at Mueller\u2019s probe, Rosenstein insisted that Justice Department officials were complying with the rule of law and that \u201cthere are no such conflicts\u201d between that and demands by the president.<\/span><\/p>\n

He refused to put a timeline on Mueller\u2019s probe, but said of all investigations, \u201cwe recognize the need to move them as expeditiously as possible.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Rosenstein declined to address whether he believed a sitting president could be indicted, noting only that Justice Department lawyers had opined in past administrations that the president could not.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rosenstein\u2019s most substantive comments, though, came on the Justice Department\u2019s feuding with several congressional committees over document requests. Rosenstein noted that, throughout American history, the Justice Department had sparred with legislators wanting documents, and while there was \u201cactually not a constitutional basis for oversight,\u201d he found legislators\u2019 role to ferret out misconduct important.<\/span><\/p>\n

He said some of his predecessors had refused to turn over any FBI documents, though the courts had in past disputes instructed the two sides to \u201ctry to compromise.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He said he would work out disputes with Congress on a \u201ccase by case\u201d basis. In recent weeks, the department had seemed to reach agreements with several committee leaders, including those in charge of the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees. The committees are seeking materials on a range of topics, including the warrant to surveil Page and the investigation into Hillary Clinton\u2019s use of a private email server.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf we were to just open our doors to allow Congress to come and rummage through the files, that would be a serious infringement on the separation of powers, and it might resolve a dispute today, but it would have negative repercussions in the long run, and we have a responsibility to defend the institution,\u201d Rosenstein said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Asked about the articles of impeachment, Rosenstein quipped, \u201cthey can\u2019t even resist leaking their own drafts,\u201d and then compared the document to one the Justice Department seeks in charging someone with a crime.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to affix our signature to the charging document,\u201d he said, adding later, \u201cI just don\u2019t have anything to say about documents like that, that nobody has the courage to put their name on, and that they leak in that way.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Rosenstein also on Tuesday addressed a question that has long vexed members of the D.C. press corps: Should his last name be pronounced Rosen-steen or Rosen-stine?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo, there\u2019s no right answer to that question,\u201d Rosenstein said, to laughter. \u201cMy family, my father, pronounces it \u2018stine.\u2019 That\u2019s how I pronounce it. But I actually have relatives who pronounce it \u2018steen,\u2019 so I\u2019ll answer to either one.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/national-security\/the-department-of-justice-is-not-going-to-be-extorted-rosenstein-responds-to-impeachment-threat\/2018\/05\/01\/0dbef5f2-4d73-11e8-af46-b1d6dc0d9bfe_story.html?utm_term=.a1d681515a80<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t <\/div><\/div>\n\t\t