Deputy attorney general pick grilled about Russia probe
WASHINGTON — Under insistent questioning from Democrats, deputy attorney general nominee Rod Rosenstein refused to commit Tuesday to appoint a special counsel to oversee investigations of Russian meddling in the presidential election — though he stressed that he did not yet know the facts of the matter.
At a tense Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing that lasted more than 3½ hours, Rosenstein said that he was “not aware” of any reason he would not be able to supervise such probes.
“You view it as an issue of principle, that I need to commit to appoint a special counsel in a matter that I don’t even know if it’s being investigated,” he told Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who had vowed to try to block his nomination should he not make such a commitment. “And I view it as an issue of principle that as a nominee for deputy attorney general, I should not be promising to take action on a particular case.”
Rosenstein is a respected prosecutor who has served in both Democratic and Republican administrations. But on Tuesday, Democrats and Republicans essentially turned him into a lightning rod, pressing him for answers on how he would handle any probes of Russian meddling in the U.S. election or Trump associates.
Last week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that he was recusing himself from any campaign-related investigations after The Washington Post reported that he had met with the Russian ambassador twice during that campaign and had not disclosed that fact at his own confirmation hearing. That would mean supervision would fall to Rosenstein if he is confirmed.
Rosenstein said he would handle it “the way I would handle any investigation.”
Asked whether he had any contact with Russian officials, he said that throughout his career, he has spoken to lawyers and judges visiting from foreign countries at events, and that “it’s certainly possible there may have been Russian officials there.”
Perhaps the most heated exchange came after Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., lambasted Sessions for not disclosing his meetings with the Russian ambassador. It was Franken who asked Sessions at his own confirmation hearing in January what he would do if it was found that anyone affiliated with the Trump campaign had communicated with the Russian government.
Sessions responded, “I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign, and I did not have communications with the Russians.”
Franken posed the same question to Rosenstein, who responded, “If there is predication to believe that such communication was in violation of federal law, Senator, I would ensure an appropriate investigation.” The Minnesota Democrat then criticized Sessions for his response and suggested that his letter to the committee Monday insisting it “was correct” was inadequate.
“He answered a question I didn’t ask, and for him to put this in his letter as a response is insulting, and he should come back and explain himself,” Franken said.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, fired back that Franken had asked a “gotcha question,” eventually pounding his gavel to cut Franken off.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., grilled Rosenstein about Trump’s weekend tweet accusing then-President Barack Obama of wiretapping him before the election. Rosenstein responded: “I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to share my reaction, Senator. It has no bearing on my work.”
Grassley and others repeatedly brought up Loretta Lynch, the attorney general during the Obama administration, noting that she did not recuse herself from an investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email practices, even after reports about a tarmac meeting she held with Bill Clinton.
“My Democratic friends have nothing to say about that,” Hatch said. He added: “This kind of double standard makes it look like partisan politics.”
Senators also considered the nomination of Rachel Brand on Tuesday to serve as associate attorney general, the third-highest position in the Justice Department.