Jonathan Turley – One of the most glaring irregularities in the special counsel investigation has been the conflicted ethical position of top officials at the Justice Department. President Trump has long borne a deep resentment over the recusal of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, which many of us viewed as a necessary ethical step. The problem was not the recusal of Sessions but the fact that it was not immediately followed by the recusal of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. The precarious ethical position of Rosenstein just became far more acute with a new report that he ignored demands within the Justice Department to remove himself in 2017.
The report alleges that a heated argument over his conflicts arose soon after the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller within the Justice Department. Rosenstein rejected the demands of then acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe that his supervision of Mueller was a glaring conflict, while he demanded McCabe’s recusal on different conflicts.
The confrontation of Rosenstein over his dubious ethical position is no surprise. In 2017, I argued that both Mueller and Rosenstein had serious conflicts in performing any role in a special counsel investigation. Continue reading
Sundance – When reviewing new information against the backdrop of existing information it is important not to get so caught up in the weeds that you miss the obvious. This is the important aspect to a new information release from Robert Mueller.
Jon Rappoport – Here we go. Special counsel Mueller and his team have filed the first federal charges against Trump-campaign officials Paul Manafort and Rick Gates.