Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein came out of the shadows Tuesday and started defending the Justice Department against the rising Republican criticism.
On Tuesday, he made an unusually public stand for the institution he has served for nearly three decades. Rosenstein spoke against the Republican effort to impeach him, which just sparked more tensions with the conservatives in the House.
House Republicans want access to classified documents related to the investigation of special counsel Robert Mueller, including a heavily redacted memo that spells out the scope of the investigation, The Hill reported.
“There is really nothing to comment on there, but just give me the documents. The bottom line is, he needs to give me the documents,” Republican Representative Mark Meadows said during an interview with The Hill on Wednesday when asked about his response to Rosenstein.
“I have one goal in mind, and that is not somebody’s job or the termination of somebody’s job, it is getting the documents and making sure we can do proper oversight,” he said, adding that there are “no current plans to introduce an impeachment resolution.”
Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers led by the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus have drafted eight articles of impeachment against Rosenstein. The articles question Rosenstein’s credibility, reputation, and fitness to serve. Rosenstein dismissed the impeachment threat and added that the Justice Department’s independence is being threatened.
“There have been people who have been making threats privately and publicly against me for quite some time, and I think they should understand by now the Department of Justice is not going to be extorted,” Rosenstein said during an appearance at the Newseum.
“I just don’t have anything to say about documents like that that nobody has the courage to put their name on and they leak in that way,” he continued, after quipping earlier that the lawmakers “can’t even resist leaking their own drafts.”
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