Let's be honest here: anything turned over to the likes of Nunes is going to get leaked to the press, the White House, or possibly Russia as it suits a partisan agenda. And no matter what the Justice Department does, they'll probably just say it isn't cooperating anyway. Likewise, there were strong grounds for the Carter Page FISA warrant, Trumper claims to the contrary notwithstanding.(CNN) - House Freedom Caucus leaders Reps. Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan on Wednesday escalated their fight with the Justice Department, introducing a resolution to impeach Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
The resolution is not a sign that the House is about to vote to impeach Rosenstein, as House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte and House Oversight Chairman Trey Gowdy -- who have been pushing for documents from the Justice Department -- did not sign on. The House is also leaving for a monthlong recess after Thursday.
The resolution to impeach Rosenstein, which Meadows and his conservative allies have been threatening for weeks, is the strongest step that conservative allies of President Donald Trump have taken in their feud with Rosenstein and the Justice Department.
In a statement, Meadows said Rosenstein should be impeached because of the Justice Department's stonewalling of congressional subpoenas and hiding information from Congress, and for signing one of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant renewals for Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page.
Rosenstein has fiercely pushed back against his House Republican critics, warning in May that the Justice Department is "not going to be extorted" amid threats that he could be impeached.
The impeachment resolution that Meadows introduced was not "privileged," which is a procedural motion that can force a House floor vote on the matter, a move that liberal Democrats have already taken against the President, though it was easily voted down.
A Meadows spokesman said the North Carolina Republican was leaving open the option of making the resolution privileged to force a vote. But such a move isn't likely to occur until after the House returns in September.
Rosenstein has been in the crosshairs of conservative Republicans -- as well as Trump -- for a number of reasons, including his role supervising special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US election. Democrats charge that Republicans are targeting Rosenstein because they're trying to undercut Mueller's probe.
The impeachment resolution was formally introduced after a meeting Wednesday between senior Justice Department officials and Goodlatte, Gowdy, Meadows and Jordan, which Rosenstein did not attend.
Leaving the meeting, Meadows said he still had "great frustration" that the Justice Department had not complied with congressional subpoenas, although he declined at that point to comment on the prospect of impeaching Rosenstein.
While Meadows then moved on the impeachment resolution, others had a more positive view of the meeting. Gowdy, who is opposed to trying to impeach Rosenstein, told reporters afterward that he thought the meeting had been productive "because we're making progress towards compliance."
"I want the documents and I'm not a big fan of drama, I like the documents," the South Carolina Republican said, explaining that he opposes impeachment because it's punishment and not a remedy to obtaining the documents in question.
The Justice Department declined to comment.
The fight over documents between Congress and the Justice Department boils down to subpoenas from the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees for documents related to the FBI's Hillary Clinton email investigation and the probe into Trump's team and Russia.
Justice Department officials maintain that lawmakers have been provided with nearly all the documents requested by the House Judiciary subpoena from March and that they have been trying to accommodate incoming requests from House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes.
The most substantial effort has surrounded roughly 880,000 pages of documents related to the Justice Department inspector general's investigation into how the FBI handled the Clinton probe. Committee staff have been able to review the documents in a reading room at the Justice Department and then obtain copies of documents of interest -- a laborious process being overseen by US Attorney John Lausch from Chicago.
In June, FBI Director Chris Wray testified that 100 FBI employees have been working around the clock to respond to lawmakers' requests.
But Republican lawmakers maintain that while the Justice Department is turning over more materials, it has yet to fully comply with the subpoenas. The House passed a resolution last month demanding full compliance with the subpoenas.
Moreover, since Sessions recused himself and Rosenstein is overseeing the investigation, everyone knows replacing Rosenstein is a prelude to firing Mueller and shutting down the special counsel investigation, in an attempt to place the President above the law.
Now, I'm not terribly worried about this passing- even if it gets through the House, which as the article notes is far from certain, Hell will freeze over before they get a 2/3rds vote to convict in the Senate. This is a desperate move by desperate men, a shameless attempt to placate the base and Trump, or both. Nonetheless, it is a disturbing indication of how far many Republicans are willing to go to subvert the rule of law.
Please: if you are American, call your member of Congress and tell them that if they vote to impeach Rosenstein, you will regard them as complicit in attacks on America democracy.
Also, there are protests planned to begin immediately in the event that Mueller or Rosenstein are fired by Trump: https://act.moveon.org/event/mueller-fi ... ts/search/
350,000 are currently signed up.