Freedom Caucus leaders introduce impeachment resolution for Rosenstein

WASHINGTON — In an escalation of their feud with the second-highest ranking Justice Department official, Rep. Mark Meadows announced that he and Rep. Jim Jordan filed a resolution to impeach Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, claiming that the Justice Department had “repeatedly obstructed oversight” by Congress.

Meadows, the North Carolina Republican who chairs the House Freedom Caucus, and Jordan, the Ohio Republican who is the former chairman of that caucus, have been highly critical of Rosenstein, with Jordan and Rosenstein exchanging testy remarks at a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing last month.

In their resolution, the two argue the deputy attorney general should be impeached because he did not recuse himself from overseeing special counsel Robert S. Mueller’s probe of Russian election meddling, that he failed to produce documents requested by Congress, and that he redacted too much from documents he did release.

Democrats said the resolution was on tenuous ground.

“There are no grounds for House Republicans to impeach Rod Rosenstein. He’s well-respected and doing his job overseeing the Mueller investigation,” Senate Judiciary ranking member Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said in a release. “Trying to remove Rod Rosenstein from the Justice Department for failing to disclose sources, methods and evidence from an open investigation is beyond the pale. This is partisan nonsense. It’s dangerous for the rule of law and it needs to stop.”