Congress is charged with the responsibility of oversight of the Justice Department. It is part of the checks and balances that are supposed to function within our government. Congress is within its bounds when it asks for documents from the Justice Department. However, that does not necessarily mean that the Justice Department is cooperative in the process. Particularly if the Justice Department may have been coloring outside the lines in recent history.<\/p>\n
Catherine Herridge posted a story at Fox News<\/a> today about recent clashes between Congress and the Department of Justice. It is becoming very obvious that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is not a fan of Congressional oversight.<\/p>\n The article reports:<\/p>\n Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein threatened to \u201csubpoena\u201d emails, phone records and other documents from lawmakers and staff on a Republican-led House committee during a tense meeting earlier this year, according to emails reviewed by Fox News documenting the encounter and reflecting what aides described as a “personal attack.”<\/strong><\/p>\n The emails memorialized a January 2018 closed-door meeting involving senior FBI and Justice Department officials as well as members of the House Intelligence Committee. The account claimed Rosenstein threatened to turn the tables on the committee’s inquiries regarding the Russia probe.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThe DAG [Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein] criticized the Committee for sending our requests in writing and was further critical of the Committee\u2019s request to have DOJ\/FBI do the same when responding,\u201d the committee’s then-senior counsel for counterterrorism Kash Patel wrote to the House Office of General Counsel. \u201cGoing so far as to say that if the Committee likes being litigators, then \u2018we [DOJ] too [are] litigators, and we will subpoena your records and your emails,\u2019 referring to HPSCI [House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence] and Congress overall.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n A second House committee staffer at the meeting backed up Patel\u2019s account, writing: \u201cLet me just add that watching the Deputy Attorney General launch a sustained personal attack against a congressional staffer in retaliation for vigorous oversight was astonishing and disheartening. … Also, having the nation\u2019s #1 (for these matters) law enforcement officer threaten to ‘subpoena your calls and emails’ was downright chilling.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n This Thursday we will finally see the Inspector General’s report. It will be interesting to see if Rob Rosenstein is mentioned in this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Congress is charged with the responsibility of oversight of the Justice Department. It is part of the checks and balances that are supposed to function within our government. Congress is within its bounds when it asks for documents from the … Continue reading