Eli Lake: The Rosenstein Conundrum
Eli Lake, who some might say has a checkered past , has an interesting take on the latest round in the McCabe v. Rosenstein spat.
I'll paste in the heart of Lake's article, but you can read the rest of it here: Rod Rosenstein Has Some Serious Explaining to Do: Why would the deputy attorney general help Trump fire the FBI director, then investigate the president for doing so?
But even if the juiciest details of McCabe’s account cannot be verified, this case still raises important questions about the circumstances that led to the Mueller appointment. As McCabe tells it, Rosenstein effectively counseled Trump about how to fire Comey — and then took part in frantic meetings to discuss the crisis created by Comey’s firing.
...
Thankfully, Congress will be holding hearings on this matter. Senator Lindsey Graham, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said as much over the weekend. The committee should give Rosenstein an opportunity to explain himself.
Beyond that, it should also ask how the FBI came to see itself as the arbiter of what is in the national security interest of the U.S.
Beyond this conundrum, there's also the obvious question that has troubled us all along. Before taking the momentous step of siccing a Special Counsel on an infant presidential administration, what steps did Rosenstein take to ensure that the allegations that formed the basis of the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane investigation were anything more than a opposition political narrative funded by the Clinton campaign and implemented by partisan hacks? In other words, a hoax? As Trey Gowdy indicates, and as we expanded upon earlier today , it has always been clear that Crossfire Hurricane was opened on the basis of the infamous Steele "dossier," a farrago of nonsense and outright lies. Did Rosenstein conduct any due diligence into that? Or how about this: Did Rosenstein pay any attention at all to the FISC report of Chief Judge Rosemary Collyer (also discussed earlier today )? That was a huge deal, and it had to do directly with the whole Russia Hoax. What was Rosenstein thinking about when he renewed the Carter Page FISA? Lots of questions. We the people could use some answers.