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Why the Justice Department Is Defiant
Wall Street Journal ^ | May 3, 2018 | Kimberley A. Strassel

Posted on 05/04/2018 5:42:10 AM PDT by reaganaut1

The feud that has simmered for months between Congress and the Justice Department erupted this week into a cage match. That’s because the House is homing in on the goods.

Until this week, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and fellow institutionalists at the department had fought Congress’s demands for information with the tools of banal bureaucracy—resist, delay, ignore, negotiate. But Mr. Rosenstein took things to a new level on Tuesday, accusing House Republicans of “threats,” extortion and wanting to “rummage” through department documents. A Wednesday New York Times story then dropped a new slur, claiming “Mr. Rosenstein and top FBI officials have come to suspect that some lawmakers were using their oversight authority to gain intelligence about [Special Counsel Bob Mueller’s ] investigation so that it could be shared with the White House.”

Mr. Rosenstein isn’t worried about rummaging. That’s a diversion from the department’s opposite concern: that it is being asked to comply with very specific—potentially very revealing—demands. Two House sources confirm for me that the Justice Department was recently delivered first a classified House Intelligence Committee letter and then a subpoena (which arrived Monday) demanding documents related to a new line of inquiry about the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Trump investigation. The deadline for complying with the subpoena was Thursday afternoon, and the Justice Department flouted it. As the White House is undoubtedly monitoring any new congressional demands for information, it is likely that President Trump’s tweet Wednesday ripping the department for not turning over documents was in part a reference to this latest demand.

Republicans also demand the FBI drop any objections to declassifying a section of the recently issued House Intelligence Committee report that deals with a briefing former FBI Director James Comey provided about former national security adviser Mike Flynn.

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Editorial; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: jamescomey; justice; lisabarsoomian; michaelcohen; rodrosenstein; rosenstein
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1 posted on 05/04/2018 5:42:10 AM PDT by reaganaut1
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To: reaganaut1
...accusing House Republicans of “threats,” extortion and wanting to “rummage” through department documents.

A little projection there, Rod?

2 posted on 05/04/2018 5:44:46 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (<img src="http://i.imgur.com/WukZwJP.gif" width=800>https://i.imgur.com/zXSEP5Z.gif)
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To: All

Magoo!


3 posted on 05/04/2018 5:45:30 AM PDT by JonPreston (I post To: "All" because article posters rarely contribute to their own threads)
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To: reaganaut1

4 posted on 05/04/2018 5:55:27 AM PDT by Travis McGee (EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: reaganaut1

The DOJ thinks its the 4th branch of government. This needs to end.


5 posted on 05/04/2018 6:06:06 AM PDT by headstamp 2 (My "White Privilege" is my work ethic.)
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To: Travis McGee

what’s the next best option? hold them in contempt?

re Brennan:

4 May: WND: Congress blasts CIA’s politics in Russia probe
House reveals intel community’s ‘tradecraft failings’
http://www.wnd.com/2018/05/congress-blasts-cias-politics-in-russia-probe/


6 posted on 05/04/2018 6:07:43 AM PDT by MAGAthon
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To: reaganaut1

They are defiant because they WANT Trump to remove them.
The Swamp Critters in the House would use that as grounds to impeach, and the Swamp Critters in the Senate may have enough votes to convict.


7 posted on 05/04/2018 6:11:07 AM PDT by Little Ray (Freedom Before Security!)
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To: reaganaut1

Who do you want to replace Trump?


8 posted on 05/04/2018 6:18:31 AM PDT by Lurkinanloomin (Natural Born Citizen Means Born Here of Citizen Parents__Know Islam, No Peace - No Islam, Know Peace)
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To: reaganaut1

“The deadline for complying with the subpoena was Thursday afternoon, and the Justice Department flouted it.”

Simple solution: Hold Rosenstein in Contempt. Have the House Sgt. At Arms arrest him. Then send the same subpoena to Sessions and give him 24 hours to comply.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

L


9 posted on 05/04/2018 6:20:58 AM PDT by Lurker (President Trump isn't our last chance. President Trump is THEIR last chance.)
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To: reaganaut1

A CORNERED animal fights the hardest.


10 posted on 05/04/2018 6:28:33 AM PDT by ridesthemiles
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To: reaganaut1

“Defiant” in this article is a euphemism for lying.


11 posted on 05/04/2018 6:29:35 AM PDT by detective
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To: headstamp 2

The DOJ thinks its the 4th branch of government. This needs to end.

~~~~~

There still something weird about all this that’s hard to wrap one’s head around.

Lets say it is worst case scenario: That the DOJ has gone rogue against the rest of the government, with the FBI in tow, and the congress cannot execute oversight due to stonewalling, and the executive branch which should have control if it cannot because the President is said to be under investigation and removal of corrupt/rogue figures would be called interference. You then have no one left to prosecute or reign in the threat, as the CIA and NSA are charged with dealing with foreign threats, not domestic/internal. You have the outside shot that Utah prosecutor appointed by session can investigate this, but they are actually charged with investigating the FBI/DOJ, so who would Huber call upon for protection if the rogue powers wanted to coerce/corupt/intimidate/obstruct them? Federal Marshals?

This all just doesn’t wash.
Something is either much much much worse than we think, or it’s really all a huge fake distractional ruse and much much less than we think (presumably for the consumption and baiting of foreign actors for the purposes of investigating them).

Theoretically, if this was certain people gone rogue to protect themselves (because of Uranium one?) and all the right people in congress and the supreme court were informed, Trump could fire them all, order their clearances removed, and let the all the good cops and judges to their jobs.


12 posted on 05/04/2018 6:32:32 AM PDT by z3n
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To: reaganaut1

Because they have a lily-livered incompetent Swamp Rat as Attorney General?


13 posted on 05/04/2018 6:32:46 AM PDT by Iron Munro (If Illegals Voted Republican 66 Million Democrats Would Be Screaming "Build The Wall !")
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To: reaganaut1

Trump should direct the DoJ to turn over the identified documents by 1:00 PM today.

At 1:01 PM today, US Marshals should frog-march Sessions and Rosenstein out of the DoJ building and into a waiting paddy wagon.


14 posted on 05/04/2018 6:47:25 AM PDT by Arm_Bears (Hey, Rocky--Watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat!)
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To: z3n
No, it’s much worse than many people think. We are watching a well-orchestrated assault on the elected government by the unelected administrative state, aka deep state. They truly believe that they are the ones Who have the authority to plan and run the country, that elections are an outdated ritual at best, at worst a major annoyance and obstacle to their rule; and that elected officers as in Articles 1 and 2 are simply arbitrary placeholders.
15 posted on 05/04/2018 6:48:05 AM PDT by hinckley buzzard
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To: headstamp 2; z3n
"The DOJ thinks its the 4th branch of government. This needs to end."

Unfortunately more than a few progressives and Rino's believe in a totally independent DOJ to keep the executive branch and Congressional foes in check per their beliefs. Worse still, the DOJ culture buys into it.

16 posted on 05/04/2018 7:04:38 AM PDT by buckalfa (I was so much older then, but I'm younger than that now.)
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To: headstamp 2

You are clueless and have no knowledge of what the DOJ is actually doing


17 posted on 05/04/2018 7:06:18 AM PDT by bert ((K.E. N.P. N.C. +12 ..... Greetings Jacques. The revolution is coming))
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To: hinckley buzzard

They installed an ineligible usurper in the office of President for eight years that resulted in this situation.
BOTH parties colluded to violate the Constitution.

Barack Obama is NOT a natural born citizen.


18 posted on 05/04/2018 7:06:52 AM PDT by Lurkinanloomin (Natural Born Citizen Means Born Here of Citizen Parents__Know Islam, No Peace - No Islam, Know Peace)
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To: reaganaut1

It’s the seat of power of the Deep State totalitarian government of the United States, that’s why. The question will eventually be, is the pen mightier than the sword?


19 posted on 05/04/2018 7:10:50 AM PDT by Scott from the Left Coast
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To: hinckley buzzard
No, it’s much worse than many people think. We are watching a well-orchestrated assault on the elected government by the unelected administrative state, aka deep state. They truly believe that they are the ones Who have the authority to plan and run the country, that elections are an outdated ritual at best, at worst a major annoyance and obstacle to their rule; and that elected officers as in Articles 1 and 2 are simply arbitrary placeholders.

Add to that, they have the MSM behind them, acting as though this is all lawful.

20 posted on 05/04/2018 7:35:06 AM PDT by CaptainK ("no collusion, no obstruction, he's a leaker")
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