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GrundleStiltzkin
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Letter from deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein offers potential road map to special counsel Robert Mueller's probe
The bottom line: Do not expect a harsh condemnation of President Donald Trump or any of his associates if they have not been charged with crimes.
The road map comes in the form a little-noticed 12-page letter written by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein last June to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley.
The letter was in response to Grassley's demands for more information on the special counsel investigation, offers a brief history of special counsel investigations and actually quotes former and future Attorney General William Barr who appointed three special counsels during his time as attorney general under President George H.W. Bush.
In the letter, Rosenstein makes it clear he believes the Department of Justice will not – and cannot without violating long-standing Department of Justice policy – include disparaging or incriminating information about anybody who has not been charged with a crime.
"Punishing wrongdoers through judicial proceedings is only one part of the Department's mission," Rosenstein wrote. "We also have a duty to prevent the disclosure of information that would unfairly tarnish people who are not charged with crimes."
Sources familiar with the investigation believe there are no more indictments coming from the special counsel. If Mueller follows the guidance of the man who appointed him and supervised his investigation, he cannot publicly disparage those who have not been charged with a crime.
The road map comes in the form a little-noticed 12-page letter written by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein last June to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley.
The letter was in response to Grassley's demands for more information on the special counsel investigation, offers a brief history of special counsel investigations and actually quotes former and future Attorney General William Barr who appointed three special counsels during his time as attorney general under President George H.W. Bush.
In the letter, Rosenstein makes it clear he believes the Department of Justice will not – and cannot without violating long-standing Department of Justice policy – include disparaging or incriminating information about anybody who has not been charged with a crime.
"Punishing wrongdoers through judicial proceedings is only one part of the Department's mission," Rosenstein wrote. "We also have a duty to prevent the disclosure of information that would unfairly tarnish people who are not charged with crimes."
Sources familiar with the investigation believe there are no more indictments coming from the special counsel. If Mueller follows the guidance of the man who appointed him and supervised his investigation, he cannot publicly disparage those who have not been charged with a crime.
Why Mueller’s end is only the beginning
WHY MUELLER IS ONLY THE BEGINNING … IF YOU TALK TO CAPITOL HILL DEMOCRATS PRIVATELY, you will hear something surprising about what they expect from ROBERT MUELLER: Many of them expect absolutely nothing. Several top Democratic lawmakers and aides tell us privately that they are certain the report will be a dud.
IF THAT’S THE CASE, the White House will immediately make the argument that it’s time for Congress to shutter its investigations into the president. But Democratic probes into PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP are going to drag on regardless of the Mueller report. The committees are looking into things that have nothing to do with Russian interference -- the president’s company, security clearances, handling of classified information, decision-making in the White House and Cabinet scandals, for example.
IF THAT’S THE CASE, the White House will immediately make the argument that it’s time for Congress to shutter its investigations into the president. But Democratic probes into PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP are going to drag on regardless of the Mueller report. The committees are looking into things that have nothing to do with Russian interference -- the president’s company, security clearances, handling of classified information, decision-making in the White House and Cabinet scandals, for example.
Did Rosenstein already tip his hand on Mueller report?
Having run in circles screaming that the sky was falling on Robert Mueller and that they had to protect him so he could nail Donald Trump, they now face a world in which Trump never tried to fire Mueller and Mueller never found any actionable evidence for the Russia-collusion theory. Their credibility on Trump will be shot, and they will have left voters exhausted over Trump probes. The only people tuning into Nadler and Schiff will be the ultra-partisans for whom Trump is THE DEBBIL!! regardless of facts and evidence. Good luck winning an election on that basis.
Helps Trump imho.
I didn't vote for Trump and I don't like him that much. I've remained open-minded on this Mueller business but that has been a struggle. Democrats and media lost me early on COLLUSION! and HACKING! and PISSING! with the absolutely insane hyperbole. How do Democrats recover from a *thud* Mueller report?
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Turns out Russian collusion was unregistered Ukrainian lobbying long before the election
A Clinton aide will be charged out of the Manafort case
Just nine days before the FBI applied for a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant to surveil a top Trump campaign aide, bureau officials were battling with a senior Justice Department official who had "continued concerns" about the "possible bias" of a source pivotal to the application, according to internal text messages obtained by Fox News.
The 2016 messages, sent between former FBI lawyer Lisa Page and then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, also reveal that bureau brass circulated at least two anti-Trump blog articles, including a Lawfare blog post sent shortly after Election Day that called Trump possibly "among the major threats to the security of the country."
But perhaps the most significant Page-McCabe communications made plain the DOJ's worries that the FISA application to surveil Trump aide Carter Page was based on a potentially biased source -- and underscored the FBI's desire to press on.
Fox News is told the texts were connected to the ultimately successful Page application, which relied in part on information from British ex-spy Christopher Steele – whose anti-Trump views are now well-documented – and cited Page’s suspected Russia ties. In its warrant application, the FBI assured the FISA court on numerous occasions that other sources independently corroborated Steele's claims but did not clearly state that Steele worked for a firm hired by Hillary Clinton's campaign.
Carter Page has not been charged with any wrongdoing despite more than a year of federal surveillance, and he has since sued numerous actors -- including the Democratic National Committee (DNC) -- for defamation related to claims that he worked with Russia.
"OI [Office of Intelligence] now has a robust explanation re any possible bias of the chs [confidential human source] in the package," Lisa Page wrote to McCabe on Oct. 12, 2016. "Don't know what the holdup is now, other than Stu's continued concerns."
It's unclear whether the confidential source in question was Steele or another individual. "Stu" was an apparent reference to Stuart Evans, then the DOJ's National Security Division deputy assistant attorney general. In one previously unearthed and since-unredacted text message, former FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok texted Lisa Page that he was "Currently fighting with Stu for this FISA" in late 2016.
“Just called," Page said to McCabe. "Apparently the DAG [Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates] now wants to be there, and WH wants DOJ to host. So we are setting that up now. ... We will very much need to get Cohen’s view before we meet with her. Better, have him weigh in with her before the meeting. We need to speak with one voice, if that is in fact the case.” ("Cohen" is likely then-Deputy CIA Director David Cohen.)
McCabe responded within the hour: "Thanks. I will reach out to David." On Oct. 19, Page wrote to McCabe that the "meeting with WH counsel is finally set up."
Neither Lisa Page nor McCabe responded to Fox News' inquiries as to whether the meeting was designed to brief the White House on the FISA application or some other matter. Page and McCabe also did not reply to Fox News' inquiries about the DOJ's concerns over the FISA application, or dispute that the texts related to the Carter Page warrant application. Fox News has also reached out to the FBI and DOJ for comment.
A halfway competent party and candidate would annihilate Trump in 2020. These morons are doing everything they can to ensure he gets reelected.
The Dems deserves @Owen8, IMO.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Counsel_investigation_(2017–present)
It's going to sting at the polls when the patriotic dems vote for Trump.
A senior Justice Department official has told CBS News that Mueller is not recommending any further indictments.
Barr will now summarize it for lawmakers, in accordance with the law governing the special counsel. It is not clear whether the report or any part of it will be made public -- that's left to Barr's discretion. In a letter to top lawmakers on the judiciary committees, Barr said he anticipated that he might be able to advise them of Mueller's principal conclusions "as soon as this weekend."