by CHQ Staff
Yesterday, Rep. Jim Jordan grilled Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein about the documents he has been withholding from Congress, as Rosenstein smirked his way through the questioning by Jordan, and Representatives Trey Gowdy and Louie Gohmert.
You can watch the full exchange between Jordan and Rosenstein through this link to C-SPAN.
“Mr. Rosenstein, why are you keeping information from Congress?” Jordan asked in a particularly heated exchange, reported by our friend Rachel Stolzfoos of the Federalist.
“I want to know why you won’t give us what we asked for,” Jordan said.
Rosenstein called Jordan’s characterization “inaccurate,” causing Jordan to erupt.
“It is accurate!” he exclaimed. “We have caught you hiding!”
Jordan dismissed the Deputy AG’s denials the DOJ is hiding anything, asserting that the House vote would dispute that notion. “I think in a few minutes the House of Representatives is going to go on record saying you haven’t complied with requests from a separate and equal branch of government, that you haven’t complied with subpoenas, and you got seven days to get your act together.”
Jordan accused Rosenstein of instructing FBI agent Peter Strzok — who testified before the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees — not to answer the panel’s questions.
“I appreciate your sincere concerns, but I didn’t give Peter Strzok any instructions,” Rosenstein said.
Jordan then asked why Strzok said he couldn’t answer a question about whether he had met with Glenn Simpson, a former journalist who co-founded the Washington-based research firm Fusion GPS, which produced the controversial dossier that made salacious but unverified claims about President Trump’s ties to Russia.
“How would I know? You interviewed Mr. Strzok, I didn’t,” Rosenstein said.
“He works for you!” Jordan said according to Yahoo News.
Jordan then asked Rosenstein whether he had threatened staffers on the House Intelligence Committee. “Media reports indicate you did,” Jordan added.
“Media reports are mistaken,” Rosenstein said.
“Sometimes they are,” Jordan said, before reading from the report. “‘Having the nation’s No. 1 law enforcement officer threaten to subpoena your calls and emails is downright chilling.’ Did you threaten to subpoena their calls and emails?”
“No sir, and there’s no way to subpoena phone calls,” Rosenstein said with a smirk.
Despite Rosenstein’s claims to the contrary, the House of Representatives yesterday voted to put additional pressure on the Deputy Attorney General to produce documents related to the Clinton email and Russia investigations by July 6.
“Resolved, That the House of Representatives insists that, by not later than July 6, 2018, the Department of Justice fully comply with the requests, including subpoenas, of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the subpoena issued by the Committee on the Judiciary relating to potential violations of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act by personnel of the Department of Justice and related matters,” the resolution read.
“Enough is enough. Give us the documents we are entitled to have,” Jordan said on the House floor. “Let’s have the full weight of the House behind a resolution saying you’ve got seven days to get your act together.”
“We have caught them hiding information!” Jordan said in speaking in favor of the resolution he and House Freedom Caucus Chair Mark Meadows sponsored, and which passed 226-183.
Conservatives are seeking information from the agency on court-approved counterintelligence surveillance of Trump campaign aide Carter Page and the use of a confidential informant in the early days of the Russia investigation, among other things, noted Melanie Zanona in an article for The Hill.
Speaker Ryan earlier this week did not take contempt off the table, but in his usual namby-pamby way told reporters that he expects all of the requests to be honored “very, very soon.”
“We do expect full compliance very, very soon, and if we do not get that then we will keep every single option available to us,” he said.
The question conservatives have for Speaker Ryan is exactly when is Congress going to wipe the smirk off of Rod Rosenstein’s face and force him to comply with congressional subpoenas?
Soon, “very, very soon” is the best Ryan can come up with.
In the face of the obstruction of Congress being perpetrated by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein it is clear we need a Speaker of the House committed to fighting the Deep State and DC’s Swamp culture. The only person who has thrown his hat in the ring for Speaker who fits that profile is Rep. Jim Jordan. Click this link to add your name to the list of conservative leaders demanding a change in the House leadership by electing Jim Jordan Speaker.
