Impeaching Rosenstein not likely, experts assert
They say threat by Trump allies could backfire in Nov.
WASHINGTON – Some conservative House allies of President Trump threatened to impeach Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein — invoking an extreme punishment that has not been carried out against an executive branch employee in 122 years.
The Republicans who raised the specter of impeachment — including Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows and Rep. Jim Jordan — threatened a measure that the Constitution says is for “treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”
Their complaint against Rosenstein is that he has been too slow in producing documents they requested involving the Justice Department’s Russia investigation and its inquiry into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server when she was secretary of State.
Rosenstein oversees special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into whether there was collusion between the Trump campaign and Russians in the 2016 election — an inquiry Trump and his allies in Congress want to end.
“When you impeach an executive official, it’s frankly branding them as a criminal,” said Charles Tiefer, a law professor at the University of Baltimore. “It’s not meant to use to go after officials who don’t share your policy views or your political goals.”
The previous executive branch official — other than a president — who was impeached by the House was Secretary of War William Belknap, who was charged in 1876 with bribery “for accepting payments in exchange for making official appointments,” according to the House Office of the Historian. He was acquitted by the Senate a few months later.
If members of congressional commit- tees believe Rosenstein or other executive branch officials are resisting their legitimate requests for information, the proper recourse is to issue a subpoena, then pursue a contempt of Congress case against them if they don’t comply, Tiefer said.
To hold someone in contempt, a majority of committee members must vote for a contempt citation, which must then be approved by the full House. If approved, the contempt citation is referred to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, who brings the case to a grand jury for action.
“A contempt case would end up in the courts where the House Republicans may well lose,” Tiefer said. “Impeachment doesn’t go to the courts.” “I don’t think it will go anywhere,” said Eric Herzik, chairman of the political science department at the University of Nevada-Reno. “I don’t think leadership will ever bring it to the House floor.”
Though going after Rosenstein might appeal to hard-core Trump voters, it could backfire with most of the electorate and hurt moderate Republicans in swing districts in the congressional elections in November, he said.
Even if the House impeached Rosenstein, the closely divided Senate would never convict him, Herzik said. It takes a two-thirds majority to convict someone in a Senate impeachment trial. Republicans hold a slim 5149 majority, and many of the Republicans would side with Democrats against conviction, the professor said.
“I’m sure (Senate Majority Leader) Mitch McConnell is rolling his eyes and looking at (House Speaker) Paul Ryan and saying, ‘Get your guys under control,’ ” Herzik said.
Tiefer said conservative threats to impeach Rosenstein could set a dangerous precedent that may be turned against Republicans if Democrats win control of the House in the election in November.
“House Republicans should be careful what they wish for,” he said.