{"id":830,"date":"2018-05-05T08:37:15","date_gmt":"2018-05-05T12:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=830"},"modified":"2018-05-05T08:37:15","modified_gmt":"2018-05-05T12:37:15","slug":"rosensteins-dilemma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2018\/05\/05\/rosensteins-dilemma\/","title":{"rendered":"Rosenstein’s Dilemma"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rosenstein\u2019s Dilemma<\/p>\n

Rod Rosenstein is the Deputy Attorney General of the United States, second in command in the Justice Department.\u00a0 Born in Philadelphia, Summa Cum Laude at Wharton School of Economics and Cum Laude at Harvard Law; he has spent his entire career in service of his country with the Justice Department.\u00a0 His previous job was as US Attorney for Maryland, where he was chosen by Republican George W Bush, and continued under Democrat Barack Obama.<\/p>\n

Rosenstein became Deputy Attorney General by appointment from President Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.\u00a0 Due to his involvement in the Trump Campaign, Sessions recused himself from the Russia Investigation, leaving Rosenstein as the supervisor. \u00a0Rosenstein appointed his old boss, former FBI Director Robert Mueller to conduct the probe.<\/p>\n

Rosenstein has the obligation to serve three masters in his current assignment.\u00a0 The first, as a member of the executive branch of the government, is the President of the United States.\u00a0 While the Department of Justice has a long tradition of maintaining independence, ultimately they are a part of the Executive.\u00a0 The President hired Rosenstein, he can fire him as well.<\/p>\n

The second is his Constitutional duty to accept oversight from the legislative branch, the Congress.\u00a0Congress has the authority to oversee the actions of executive agencies, and also has the power to control funding for those agencies.\u00a0 Congress can, and should, know what actions are being taken, and have the obligation to ask questions and get answers.<\/p>\n

The third is to the Constitution and law itself.\u00a0 Rosenstein, as a career Department of Justice employee, has spent his whole career following the law.\u00a0 He sees as his duty to prosecute those who break the law, and to make sure that no one is above the law.\u00a0 As part of that duty, he cannot allow obstruction of an ongoing criminal investigation.<\/p>\n

His dilemma:\u00a0 the Mueller investigation is clearly centering on the actions of his ultimate boss, the President of the United States, Donald Trump.\u00a0 Trump has to ability to fire Rosenstein (and appoint someone who would subsequently stop or fire Mueller) so Rosenstein\u2019s job and career are in peril.\u00a0 In addition, some Republican Congressmen, notably members of the \u201cFreedom Caucus,\u201d led by Chairmen Gowdy, Goodlatte and Nunes; are demanding un-redacted versions of the \u201cscope and sequence\u201d documents for the Mueller probe.\u00a0 These documents are the roadmap for the investigation, and should they leak to possible subjects\/targets, would make investigating much more difficult.<\/p>\n

While the three Chairmen claim they are acting in their oversight role, it has already been demonstrated that classified information given to them has been used for political gain (see the House Intelligence Committee FISA report) rather than oversight of the Department.<\/p>\n

In essence, the Chairmen are acting as \u201cinvestigators\u201d for the Trump defense team, trying to glean details so that the President can defend himself as the named \u201csubject\u201d of the Russia Investigation.<\/p>\n

So Rosenstein faces the supreme dilemma:\u00a0 which of the three masters has the highest call?\u00a0 In statements made this past week, he made it clear where he stands.<\/p>\n

On Monday, President Trump issued a Law Day Proclamation. The President said, \u201cLaw Day recognizes that we govern ourselves in accordance with the rule of law rather [than] \u2026 the whims of an elite few or the dictates of collective will. Through law, we have ensured liberty.\u201d The point is that we do not achieve justice by polling the opinion of any person or group. We achieve justice through a process that seeks objective truth based upon credible and admissible evidence.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Rosenstein\u2019s remarks\u00a0<\/a>(definitely worth reading in full) make it clear.\u00a0 He said, \u201c\u2026when you accept a privilege, you incur an obligation.\u201d\u00a0 The privilege of spending a career in the Justice Department obliges him to follow his highest loyalty, to the Law and the Constitution.\u00a0This requires him to perform the \u201cunpleasant duty\u201d of refusing the requests of the Congressmen.<\/p>\n

The Freedom Caucus may try to impeach Rosenstein for this refusal.\u00a0 While one would hope Speaker Ryan would step into such a situation, his pending retirement may have emasculated him (or he retired because he already was.)\u00a0 Clearly there is no majority in the House, far less a two-thirds majority of the Senate to convict.\u00a0 Rosenstein won\u2019t lose his job by Congressional action.\u00a0 And should President Trump use that as his excuse to remove Rosenstein, it will ignite a Constitutional crisis.<\/p>\n

If we are a nation of laws, then obstruction of those laws is in itself a crime.\u00a0 Rosenstein will not be a participant in obstruction, and Congress should not become a tool of obstruction either.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rosenstein\u2019s Dilemma Rod Rosenstein is the Deputy Attorney General of the United States, second in command in the Justice Department.\u00a0 Born in Philadelphia, Summa Cum Laude at Wharton School of Economics and Cum Laude at Harvard Law; he has spent his entire career in service of his country with the Justice Department.\u00a0 His previous job … Continue reading “Rosenstein’s Dilemma”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nRosenstein's Dilemma : Our America - 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