Rosenstein Shows Support For Mueller Inquiry Despite Republican Criticism
Rod Rosenstein Image by Getty Images
WASHINGTON, Dec 13 (Reuters) – Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on Wednesday downplayed Republican lawmakers’ concerns that attorneys and agents investigating Russian alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election might be biased against President Trump.
Republicans on the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee ramped up their attacks on Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is heading the federal investigation, at a hearing.
Republicans said they had reviewed more than 300 anti-Trump text messages exchanged last year between an FBI agent and an attorney who worked on Mueller’s probe.
But Rosenstein said Mueller properly removed the agent, Peter Strzok, from the probe after the texts were brought to light by the Justice Department’s inspector general and added he was confident that Mueller was not letting bias seep into the investigation.
When asked at one point by the committee’s ranking Democrat whether he had any good cause for firing Mueller, he replied: “No.”
Members of the committee released the contents of some of the text messages between Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page.
In the texts, Trump is referred to as an “utter idiot” and “loathsome human,” according to the committee’s chairman Bob Goodlatte.
Democrats downplayed the texts and other complaints, saying there was no evidence of bias.
“Peter Strzok did not say anything about Donald Trump that the majority of Americans weren’t also thinking at the same time,” said the committee’s top Democrat, Jerrold Nadler.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news. All donations are still being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000 until April 24.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
