Hands off Justice

Kudos to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein — to whom Special Counsel Robert Mueller reports — for a perfect response to a bizarre House Republican threat, made via articles of impeachment against him drafted and leaked to the press: Rosenstein first said he would not comment on documents “that nobody has the courage to put their name on,” then got to the heart of the matter.

“I think they” — meaning members of Congress — “should understand by now that the Department of Justice is not going to be extorted. We’re going to do what’s required by the rule of law.”

Mark Meadows, head of the House Freedom Caucus, claims the Rosenstein impeachment is a “last resort,” with the Justice Department rejecting “simple requests” to see documents related to the Russia probe’s launch.

There’s an obvious reason the DOJ would hold back: Because allies of the President in the House, forgetting their oversight responsibilities, have made a dark art out of running purely partisan interference for the White House.

Sure enough, Trump Wednesday tweeted out support for the attack on Rosenstein: “A Rigged System — (DOJ) don’t want to turn over Documents to Congress.” Followed by: “At some point I will have no choice but to use the powers granted to the Presidency and get involved!”

As dangerous as a presidential attempt to remove Rosenstein and Mueller would be — obstruction of justice to prevent them from pursuing an investigation into obstruction of justice, among other things — it would at least be clarifying, leaving no further doubt the lengths to which Trump and his flunkies will go to hide the truth.

A bipartisan bill to shield Mueller from interference passed the Senate Judiciary Committee 14 to 7 last week. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he won’t bring it to a vote . . . because.

Congressional Republicans look awfully eager to be accessories to a constitutional crisis.