If the DoJ doesn’t give Congress the documents it’s requested, a forced vote to impeach Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is on the horizon.
This, according to Republican Rep. Jim Jordan.
The Ohio congressman appeared on New York’s AM 970 with host John Catsimatidis, and he made things very clear:
“If they don’t give us the information that we, as a separate and equal branch of government are entitled to have in order to get answers for the American people, then we will actually call to vote for the impeachment of Rod Rosenstein.”
Rosenstein, who has refused to turn over documents related to the Mueller probe, has been accused of anti-Trump prejudice in delaying investigation of FBI agents — who, they say, have demonstrative bias against the President.
On Wednesday, along with Rep. Mark Meadows, Jordan headed up a group of congressional Republicans to file articles of impeachment against Rosenstein.
I just filed a resolution with @Jim_Jordan and several colleagues to impeach Rod Rosenstein. The DOJ has continued to hide information from Congress and repeatedly obstructed oversight–even defying multiple Congressional subpoenas.
We have had enough.
— Mark Meadows (@MarkMeadows) July 25, 2018
After talks with GOP leaders — who weren’t so hot on the whole impeachment thing — Meadows backstroked away from the “I” word.
Jordan told Catsimatidis Congress has “caught the Department of Justice trying to hide information from us, redacting stuff in documents that they should not have redacted.”
Whoa!
Jordan means business.
“The House has a constitutional duty to do oversight if the executive branch isn’t going to do that. … People should be held in contempt, people should be impeached. … That’s why if they don’t give us the information, Mr. Meadows and myself and others are going to force an impeachment vote at some point.”
To me, “impeachment” talk in Washington is rarely good for the country.
Alan Dershowitz says the GOP plan is a bad one:
“The decision by a group of Republicans to seek a bill of impeachment against Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein may well backfire against President Trump. The conservative lawmakers who are seeking to introduce this bill of impeachment have charged Rosenstein with conduct that does not meet the constitutional criteria for impeachment.
“As I pointed out in my book, The Case Against Impeaching Trump, the constitutional criteria are very specific: ‘Treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.’ These specified crimes do not include the allegations being made against Rosenstein. Accordingly, the Republicans who support this bill of impeachment are implicitly siding with Democrats who argue that Trump can be impeached for noncriminal conduct.”
I’m all for standing up against the opposition; that’s true. What’s also true is that I’m not so sure impeachment is the right course of action. Should the GOP participate in the rise of impeachment rhetoric in Washington?
Republicans aren’t the only ones slinging the word.
CNN’s been soaking its socks from wetting its pants over Trump impeachment for a bit, as covered by Yours Truly here and here.
Additionally, Al Green — perhaps the goofiest congressman of our time — has gone nuts in the last year over impeachment.
As Green said in one of his impeachment speeches on the House floor, “We know what a ‘B’ is.”
In his case, it’s a bozo.
Republicans, let’s not be bozos.
What’s your opinion of ousting Rosenstein? Sound off in the Comments section below.
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