Rosenstein under fire
House conservatives launch effort to impeach deputy AG.
WASHINGTON — Conservative lawmakers on Wednesday introduced a resolution calling for the impeachment of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, a move that marks an escalation in the battle over the special counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
The effort, spearheaded by Reps. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., and Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, also sets up a showdown with House Republican leaders, who have distanced themselves from calls to remove Rosenstein from office. But Meadows and Jordan stopped short of forcing an immediate vote on the measure, sparing Republican lawmakers for now from a potential dilemma.
“For nine months we’ve warned them consequences were coming, and for nine months we’ve heard the same excuses backed up by the same unacceptable conduct,” Meadows said in a statement announcing the move. “Time is up and the consequences are here. It’s time to find a new deputy attorney general who is serious about accountability and transparency.”
Meadows and Jordan are leaders of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, a bloc whose members have been among the most persistent critics of Rosenstein. All 11 lawmakers who filed the resolution are members of the caucus.
House Republicans have been ramping up their attacks on the deputy attorney general in recent weeks, accusing him of withholding documents and being insufficiently transparent in his handling of the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller.
Justice Department officials said they have provided the vast majority of information sought in subpoenas from two key House committees — and are nearly done with providing all of the outstanding information requested in those subpoenas.
In an appearance on Fox Business Network on Wednesday night, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., said that while the next step remains uncertain as the House leaves Washington for its summer recess at the end of this week, “it was very important for those of us who believe that norms have been violated to step out and say Rod Rosenstein needs to be impeached.”
“The mountain of evidence against Rod Rosenstein is very compelling when you look at the extent to which documents and witnesses have been withheld,” said Gaetz, one of the lawmakers who introduced the resolution.
Democrats have argued that House Republicans’ clashes with Rosenstein are little more than a pretext to weaken Mueller’s efforts.
In a joint statement Wednesday night, the top Democrats on three House committees called the resolution a “direct attack” on the Mueller probe and warned President Donald Trump not to use it as a pretext to fire Rosenstein or Mueller.
“Any attempt to do so will be viewed by Congress and the American people as further proof of an effort to obstruct justice with severe consequences for Trump and his presidency,” said Reps. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, Jerrold Nadler of New York and Adam Schiff of California.
Meadows and Jordan filed the resolution a little more than an hour after leaving a meeting with top Justice Department officials, including FBI General Counsel Dana Boente and Inspector General Michael Horowitz. Exiting the meeting, Meadows said there was “still great frustration” with the pace at which subpoenaed documents had been produced to Congress.
But that was far from a unanimous opinion for the lawmakers who participated. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., said he believed that the Justice Department officials were making progress toward complying and that impeaching Rosenstein would be a bad idea.
“I’m not a big fan of drama,” Gowdy said. “Impeachment is a punishment; it’s not a remedy. If you’re looking for documents, then you want compliance, and you want whatever moves you toward compliance.”
House Republican aides said that if a member moved to force a vote on the measure, leaders would likely move to send it to the House Judiciary Committee for further review, effectively bottling it up indefinitely. But that could still be an uncomfortable vote for many Republican lawmakers who are under pressure from conservatives groups to unseat Rosenstein.
For months, House Republicans have accused the Justice Department and FBI of stonewalling and foot-dragging in response to lawmakers’ demands for documents about the 2016 investigation of Hillary Clinton’s emails, the ongoing inquiry into Russian interference in the election, and the sources and methods used in the Russia probe.
A Justice Department official said only one committee request has been formally denied: a demand to see the unredacted Justice Department memo detailing exactly which Trump associates are under investigation by Mueller and on which potential crimes. Officials declined that request because providing it could compromise ongoing investigations.