ASHEVILLE, NC
Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand sayeth
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Im blown away he represents Asheville….. more importantly than VA privatization.
“Next month, Republican Representatives Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan from Ohio — both leaders of the Freedom Caucus — are expected to press Speaker Ryan to bring to the House floor their resolution to hold Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in contempt of Congress for his failure to turn over documents tied to the Russia investigation. Back in May, despite threats of impeachment, Rosenstein was adamant that the Justice Department was “not going to be extorted.
Rosenstein, who oversees the Russia investigation, has been under relentless attack for months by President Trump and his House loyalists. The goal of these attacks is clear — to discredit, cripple and, if possible, kill the Russia investigation.
As part of this effort, Meadows and Jordan were among GOP leaders that recklessly filed articles of impeachment against Rosenstein just before the House left for its August recess.
The Justice Department has a longstanding policy of not releasing these kinds of investigative documents in the middle of a criminal investigation. Doing so could compromise the investigation if the information reaches the individuals under investigation — a particular danger here, as President Trump and Rep. Meadows reportedly are key allies.
Nevertheless, in an effort to be as accommodating as possible, Rosenstein and the Justice Department have been providing the House with numerous documents from the Russia investigation.
To his credit, Speaker Ryan opposed the impeachment effort and noted that the House had made “tremendous progress” in getting the Justice Department to provide the documents it wanted. So far, so good.
Meadows and Jordan ultimately dropped their impeachment gambit and instead asserted that they would pursue a contempt of Congress resolution against Rosenstein in early September if all of the documents Republicans have subpoenaed are not received by the start of the month. According to a published report, Meadows claimed Ryan had agreed to this approach: “The speaker is willing to support [Judiciary] Chairman [Bob] Goodlatte in a contempt process if the agreed upon documents are not delivered.”
The impeachment resolution was nothing more than an empty threat. In the 229-year history of the Constitution, Congress has never impeached a subcabinet official, such as a deputy attorney general. When Meadows and Jordan tried this reckless act in 2016 against IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, their baseless impeachment resolution offered was overwhelmingly defeated by a bipartisan vote of 342 to 72.
However, if a contempt of Congress resolution against Rosenstein for failing to comply with Republicans’ subpoena is brought to the floor, it might just pass on a party-line vote.
If that were to happen, the contempt resolution would serve the same purpose as articles of impeachment. It would give President Trump “cover” to remove Rosenstein from his job and to replace him with a Trump loyalist and take control of (and kill) the Russia investigation. This is what the Meadows and Jordan effort against Rosenstein is really about.”
*Paul Ryan will soon face a “sense of decency” moment (opinion) – CNN
such an elementary and silly cartoon … blech …