Rosenstein, who resigned from the Department of Justice in May 2019, became the top official responsible for overseeing the FBI's Russia probe after the recusal of Jeff Sessions, who was attorney general at the time.
Graham proposed that a pair of former investigators earlier removed from the probe could have polluted the information pipeline. He then accused Rosenstein of serving as a rubber-stamp "conduit" for the Mueller team.
One week after President Donald Trump fired then-FBI Director James Comey in May 2017, Rosenstein announced the appointment of a special counsel to take over the investigation. But Rosenstein was also a central player in Comey's dismissal. He authored a memo criticizing Comey's handling of the bureau's Clinton email probe, which the White House released as justification for terminating Comey.
Rosenstein is a polarizing figure, having become entangled in critical facets of the Russia probe to the chagrin of members of both parties. After Sessions stepped down from overseeing the FBI's probe, the job soon fell to Rosenstein, who would join the Department of Justice as its second-highest ranking official.
That inquiry is criminal in nature, but Barr has said he does not expect it to touch on former President Barack Obama or former Vice President Joe Biden, now the presumptive Democratic nominee for president.
Rosenstein testified Wednesday at the first such hearing in the committee's review of the origins of the FBI's investigation into Russian interference and potential contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian actors. The probe was codenamed "Crossfire Hurricane."
Robert Ray, who succeeded Kenneth Starr as independent counsel during investigations into then-President Clinton, said these types of probes have a shelf life. The longer an investigation runs, the more obstacles emerge because witnesses’s memories fade and cooperation becomes more difficult to obtain.
Former President Trump gushed “I am so proud” when then-Attorney General William P. Barr tapped John Durham to look for widespread wrongdoing by FBI officials in the early stages of its Russia-collusion probe.
Over a similar length of time as the Durham probe, Mr. Mueller filed criminal charges against 34 individuals, including seven Trump associates. His work resulted in 12 others referred for criminal prosecution.
In the end, Clinesmith was sentenced to 12 months probation and 400 hours of jail time.
The prosecution did not stray beyond the actions of Clinesmith, whose wrongdoing had been uncovered a year earlier by Justice Department Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz. Mr. Durham did not allege Clinesmith’s actions were linked to a deeper conspiracy against Mr. Trump.
Trump and other conservatives mock the investigation that has practically disappeared without an utterance from Mr. Durham or any sign that he has uncovered anything.
Patience is wearing thin on the Durham investigation. Outgoing Attorney General William Barr recently appointed John Durham as a special counsel to ensure his probe into the origins of the Russian collusion hoax continues into the next administration. Durham was tapped in April of 2019 to investigate the origins of the collusion delusion ...
Trump’s campaign” and that it was former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos’ s comments that sparked the investigation.
Strzok was rightfully fired for his anti-Trump texts. He exchanged tens of thousands of texts with Lisa Page, with whom he was having an extramarital affair. Strzok tried to pass these embarrassing texts off as a sign of his patriotism. Page said that they meant exactly what they say. Page resigned from the FBI. James Comey and Andrew McCabe were fired from their positions as FBI director and deputy FBI director respectively. Will there be justice? Will these people, who are just the tip of the deep state operation against Trump face charges? We’ll see, but as of now, I wouldn’t bet on it. Things could change, however, and I’m still hoping enough will be there in the end to at least drag the individual responsible through the mud.
While the FBI claims that investigations into Trump’s campaign began with the opening of Crossfire Hurricane on July 31, 2016, communications between Strzok and his alleged mistress, FBI special counsel Lisa Page, show that the agent asked Page to discuss “ [o]ur open C [counter-]I [ntelligence] investigations relating to Trump’s Russian connections” with him on July 28, 2016.
Durham was tapped in April of 2019 to investigate the origins of the collusion delusion that engulfed the nation for years, with Barr launching the investigation after not being satisfied over the explanations for some of the actions that were taken in this circus act.
The reasoning behind the Crossfire Hurricane spy operation against the Trump campaign has been described as a “trainwreck” by Kevin Brock, a former FBI intelligence official, who reviewed Strzok’s paperwork for the operation.
The timeline here suggests the FBI was not honest when it claimed anti-Trump investigations began on July 31, and only because of alleged information about George Papadopoulos. Strzok’s July 28 text to Page about ongoing anti-Trump probes shows otherwise. https://t.co/D6nLO7ZhZB
The IG report also determined that “the FBI had an authorized purpose when it opened [the Russia investigation] to obtain information about, or protect against, a national security threat or federal crime, even though the investigation also had the potential to impact constitutionally protected activity.”.
A report by the Department of Justice inspector general debunks the claims that the investigation into political interference by the Kremlin was a left-wing conspiracy to depose the president. About the author: Adam Serwer is a staff writer at The Atlantic, where he covers politics.
The IG report knocked down the various claims that Trump and his allies have made, one by one. The report confirmed that the Russia investigation originated, as has been previously reported, with the Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos bragging to an Australian diplomat about Russia possessing “dirt” on Hillary Clinton, which the IG determined “was sufficient to predicate the investigation.” The widespread conservative belief that the investigation began because of the dubious claims in the Steele dossier was false. “Steele’s reports played no role” in the opening of the Russia investigation, the report found, because FBI officials were not “aware of Steele’s election reporting until weeks later.”
Barr’s statement is a matter of opinion, which expresses his monarchical belief that Trump was above the law even before he became president.
If the allegations against the president are all completely false, then his supporters can continue to back him with a clear conscience, because anything and everything negative they hear about the president must be false.
December 10, 2019. About the author: Adam Serwer is a staff writer at The Atlantic, where he covers politics. If you are following mainstream news outlets, you know that in 2016, Donald Trump benefited from a Russian hacking and disinformation campaign designed to help him get elected, even as he sought permission from the Russian government ...
The IG report notes that Page “did not play a role in the decision to open” the Russia investigation, and that Strzok was “was not the sole, or even the highest-level, decision maker as to any of those matters.”.