White House is prepping an effort to undermine Rosenstein
Washington (CNN)The White House is preparing talking points designed to undermine Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein's credibility, according to sources familiar with the plan.
The plan calls on President Donald Trump's allies to cast Rosenstein as too conflicted to fairly oversee the Russia investigation.
The talking points are still in their preliminary form, and not yet finalized, people familiar with their preparation said.
A White House spokesperson said the swipes at Rosenstein were not part of a coordinated communications effort, unlike the coordinated strategy with the Republican National Committee to take on former FBI Director James Comey.
The Justice Department declined to comment.
Already, a number of Trump's associates have called for Rosenstein's firing in appearances on television and in public remarks over the past few days, but not all of them did so at the request of the White House.
As special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Trump encroaches further into the President's inner circle, his allies outside the White House are ramping up their efforts both to defend him and to encourage a tougher stance against a probe they claim has dramatically overstepped its bounds. FBI agents relied on search warrants that had been executed by the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York in conducting the raid. They obtained the warrants after receiving a referral from Mueller's office.
Firing Rosenstein or Mueller himself could inject new turbulence into Trump's presidency. Legal experts, Democrats and some Republicans have said it could prompt a constitutional crisis. It would almost certainly derail policy efforts as Trump works to enact his agenda ahead of congressional elections in November.
Weighing Rosenstein's fate
Efforts to undermine Rosenstein in the media come as the President is weighing whether to fire the top official overseeing the Russia investigation.
Trump is still livid about the raid on his private attorney Michael Cohen -- "He'll be pissed about it until he dies," another source said -- and he and his allies are increasingly convinced that Mueller and Rosenstein have overstepped their bounds.
One area of conflict the White House wants its surrogates to highlight: Rosenstein's role as a key witness to the Comey firing, sources said. Rosenstein wrote the memo justifying Comey's dismissal. It centered on his conduct in investigating Hillary Clinton's use of private email.
In a somewhat illogical pairing, the White House is also looking for Trump's allies to cast Rosenstein and Comey as close colleagues -- even though Rosenstein helped provide the basis for Comey's firing.
The White House is hoping Trump's defenders will use the notion that Comey and Rosenstein are close to argue that Rosenstein is approving an ever-expanding investigation against Trump and his associates as retribution.
"It's payback for the President firing one of his best friends," a source said.
A source close to Rosenstein noted, however, that the two men are not friends.
A White House official said the President has been particularly galled by a recently disclosed memo Rosenstein wrote in August authorizing Mueller to investigate allegations that Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort was "colluding with Russian government officials" to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.
The President and some of his aides were upset Rosenstein didn't give the White House a heads up about the additional memo, according to a person familiar with the matter. As officials seek to learn what was included in the memo's redactions, they are building a case against Rosenstein that he should have recused himself from the probe in the first place.
That view has been echoed by a key Trump legal defender, Alan Dershowitz, who has insisted Rosenstein cannot oversee an investigation in which he may himself be a witness.
While many of Trump's friends and staffers have discouraged him from firing anyone in the past, that has shifted in the wake of the Cohen raid, even though it was carried out by the Southern District of New York and not Mueller's team.
Nevertheless, multiple Trump allies have agreed with the President's thinking that Mueller has overstepped his mandate and that someone should be held accountable.
Public show of force
The animosity toward Rosenstein that has emerged on Capitol Hill, including from House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, could also make the President feel as those he has more cover to fire Rosenstein, a source said.
Trump himself has remained preoccupied with the Russia investigation, even as his administration weighs launching strikes in Syria in response to a chemical gas attack. Twelve minutes before Sean Hannity was set to hit the airwaves on Wednesday, his most powerful regular viewer seemed to know what was in store.
"Big show tonight on @seanhannity!" Trump wrote on Twitter. "9:00 P.M. on @FoxNews."
Big show tonight on @seanhannity! 9:00 P.M. on @FoxNews
What followed was a nearly hour-long screed on the swirl of perceived Justice Department offenses against Trump and a preemptive strike against James Comey, the FBI director Trump fired who embarks next week on a book tour.
Thirty minutes into the television program that Trump promoted on Wednesday, attorney Joseph DiGenova -- who nearly joined Trump's legal team before withdrawing because of conflicts -- barked his instructions.
"Rod Rosenstein is so incompetent, compromised and conflicted that he can no longer serve as deputy attorney general, and Jeff Sessions now has an obligation to the President of the United States to fire Rod Rostenstein," he said, his voice raised in anger.
He wasn't alone. Earlier on Fox, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich described Rosenstein as ineffective at keeping Mueller within bounds.
"The fact is Rod Rosenstein has not done his job. He has not supervised Mueller. This whole thing is an absurdity," Gingrich declared on "Fox and Friends," the regular soundtrack of Trump's early mornings. "The fact is, this is a left-wing bureaucracy at Justice. It is anti-Trump. It is anti-Republican."
Across the Atlantic, one of Trump's former campaign aides was espousing the same view during a Wall Street Journal panel in London. Citing, among other things, Rosenstein's authorization of FBI raids on the office and hotel room of Trump's attorney Michael Cohen, former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski declared there was cause for dismissal.
"I think any or all of those are justification for firing the deputy attorney general," he said.
And Steve Bannon, the former White House chief strategist, has begun advocating for Rosenstein's firing in conversations with Trump allies and advisers, according to people familiar with his efforts, who also say Bannon is warning that Trump's legal team is woefully outmatched by Mueller's team.
The Washington Post also first reported on Wednesday that Bannon was calling on Trump to fire the White House attorney assigned to the Mueller probe, Ty Cobb. Trump dismissed that suggestion in a tweet on Thursday.
"I have agreed with the historically cooperative, disciplined approach that we have engaged in with Robert Mueller (Unlike the Clintons!)," Trump wrote. "I have full confidence in Ty Cobb, my Special Counsel, and have been fully advised throughout each phase of this process."
Bannon's campaign hasn't necessarily included direct conversations with Trump himself. But his views reflect a concerted effort by Trump's allies to convince the President that harsher action is necessary to short circuit the Russia probe.
An administration official says all of the outside voices calling for Rosenstein's firing have been compiled and given to the president, though much of the action has come on the airwaves of Fox News, which Trump views regularly.
Political fallout
Trump has considered firing Mueller and Rosenstein at various points over the past year, but has stopped short of taking such drastic steps. He's been advised by Republican lawmakers and other allies that the political fallout of such a move could prove devastating for his agenda.
He's also recalled another firing that proved to have damaging consequences: it was his firing of James Comey last year that resulted in the appointment of Mueller as special counsel.
Trump on Thursday pushed back on reports he's considered firing Mueller, including a story this week that he'd threatened to dismiss the special counsel in December.
"If I wanted to fire Robert Mueller in December, as reported by the Failing New York Times, I would have fired him. Just more Fake News from a biased newspaper!" he wrote.
That pushback aside, Trump continues to consider taking action to short-circuit the Russia probe, including firing Rosenstein, CNN has reported. Officials say if Trump acts, Rosenstein is his most likely target, but it's unclear whether even such a dramatic firing like this would be enough to satisfy the President.
Lawmakers have warned such a step could prove politically disastrous, though the topic did not arise during a Wednesday dinner with top Republican leaders, according to Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn.
On Thursday, a top Republican took his warnings against firing Mueller public.
"Anyone advising the President -- in public or over the airwaves -- to fire Bob Mueller does not have the President or the nation's best interest at heart," Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, wrote on Twitter. "Full stop."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p24NliC1e9g
Nearly a year after the special counsel was appointed to investigate Russian interference in our elections, we're still asking the question: Where is the evidence of collusion?
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/11/paper-flawed-robert-mueller-fumbled-biggest-u-s-terrorism-investigation-since-911/
https://thegatewaypundit.com/2017/12/former-chief-asst-u-s-attorney-reveals-fatal-flaw-muellers-mission-impeach-potus-trump-2/
“It is now an obstruction investigation,” McCarthy writes in reference to Mueller’s probe, “Which means that it’s an impeachment investigation.”
Assuming I am correct about Mueller’s theory, its fatal flaw as a vehicle for prosecution is the same as it has always been: As president, Trump had incontestable power to exercise prosecutorial discretion and to fire the FBI director. […] The FBI and the Justice Department are not a separate branch of government; they are subordinates of the president delegated to exercise his power, not their own. Even on Comey’s account, Trump did not order him to shut down the Flynn investigation, even though he could have. Trump could have ordered an end of the Russia counterintelligence investigation, but he did not. He could have pardoned Flynn, which would effectively have ended the FBI’s criminal investigation — beyond any possibility of review. We can stipulate that these would have been sleazy things to do, potentially damaging to national security, and still grasp that the president had the undeniable power to do them. […] The president may not be prosecuted in a criminal judicial proceeding for exercising his discretion, however objectionably, in executive matters over which the courts have no power of review. If Mueller tried to indict him, Trump would have unfettered discretion to fire Mueller and to direct the Justice Department to drop the case. […] When executive powers are abused, Congress retains the constitutional authority to impeach and remove the president.
While the mainstream media screamed bloody murder, a clear-eyed McCarthy expertly broke down why Mueller’s charges against Manafort appeared “shaky and overcharged.”
If the political and media elite believe the American people will sit by as President Trump is removed from office, especially as the alleged crimes of Hillary Clinton, James Comey and Andrew McCabe go unpunished, the ensuing shock will pale in comparison to what they experienced on November 8, 2016.
Bloggers Notes:
This wraps into the Story of #SteeleDossier #FisaGate #FisaMemo
#Parklandshootings #Marchforourlives #guncontrol #DavidHoggs #CNN #FBI #CIA #BowardCounty #GunFreeSchoolZone #SheriffIsrael #DebbieWesserman
#epstein #Palmbeachmansion #HRC #obama TrumpRussiaCollusion IS A COVERUP STORY TO COVER HILLARY;S ASS AND OBAMA'S AND ALL THOSE THOUSANDS OF INVOLVED IN THIS, THIS THE BIG CASE. THEIR HOMES AND OFFICES NEEDED TO BE RAIDED ASAP. NOT TRUMP'S LAWYER #MIKECOHEN HE IS INNOCENT #STORMYDANIELS STORY IS A SPINOFF LIE!
Facts are Facts. #Stormydaniels is anther #spinoff lie used to #Coverup for #Fisagate. Everyone Knows #FisaGate is Real. It;s a Real Investigation waiting to be handled. Now Why was Mike Cohen Raided? When all the people on List below homes have not been raided? #Truth #Research
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/10/muellers-special-investigation-illegal-rosenstein-not-right-set-without-preliminary-investigation-first/
Next on April 25th, 2017, Rod Rosenstein was confirmed to be deputy attorney general by a vote of 94-6 in the Senate and on April 26th he was sworn in. Then less than a month later, on May 17th, Rosenstein appointed a special counsel and appointed his old friend from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Robert Mueller with the following directive –
THIS IS WHY R R NEEDS TO BE FIRED IMMEDIATELY!! #FIRERODROSENSTEIN #RIDOFROD! #ROSBROKETHELAW #RODTREASONThe Special Counsel is authorized to conduct the investigation confirmed by then-FBI Director James S. Corney in testimony before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on March 20, 2017, including:
http://thegatewaypundit.com/2018/04/newt-gingrich-mueller-and-fbi-are-acting-like-stalin-and-the-gestapo-in-germany-video/
The truth is Mueller has produced NOTHING about Ppresident Trump and Russia. If you just look at what his original assignment was, it is a bust an absurdity. And instead they have gone off trying to find ways to create noise. But in terms of what he was originally asked to look into Robert Mueller has come up with a big fat zero and we ought to be honest about that. The president ought to relax, focus on on being president… The fact is that Rosenstein has not done his job. He has not supervised Mueller. This whole thing is an absurdity. We’ve now had, Paul Manafort and his wife, in their pajamas at 3 o’clock in the morning having the FBI break down the door. We’ve had this last week Cohen the lawyer had the door taken off the hinges at 6 in the morning. Show me one occasion where out of all the different crimes committed by the Clintons and their staff they ever had that kind of treatment. The fact is this is a left-wing bureaucracy of justice. It is anti-Trump. It is anti-Republican. People who think that justice is blind, which it’s supposed to be. No the left eye is open and what they have done ought to lead to a real debate not just what they have done about Mueller but about the whole Justice Department. And remember, it was Rosenstein who approved going in a six o’clock in the morning. There is no reason to have done it. But actually the same thing about Manafort. How would anybody watching this show feel if you woke up at three in the morning and you and your spouse were still in bed in your pajamas and there were armed people in your room and they were the United States government. And they had no reason to do it… Comey is off grandstanding. But the truth is he didn’t do his job in the Bush administration, he colluded with Schumer to embarrass President Bush. The truth is he appointed a special counsel during the Bush administration that ran wild. And the truth is he failed to prosecute the people in the Clinton campaign.
And I think we ought to take this as a chance to educate the country about Comey and again to go back to my course on defending America. That’s the whole point that we’re supposed to have the rule of law. It ain’t the rule of law when they kick in your door at three in the morning and you’re faced with armed men and you have no reason to be told you’re going to have that kind of treatment. That’s Stalin. That’s the gestapo in Germany. That shouldn’t be the American FBI.
No comments:
Post a Comment