Rod Rosenstein used a common phrase among those in the Trump administration who are using their positions to cover-up for Trump.
Rod Rosenstein’s comments to Trump look bad
The Washington Post had an inside report about how Rosenstein tried to both reassure Trump and protect Mueller:
Rosenstein — who, by one account, had gotten teary-eyed just before the call in a meeting with Trump’s chief of staff — sought to defuse the volatile situation and assure the president he was on his team, according to people familiar with matter. He criticized the Times report, published in late September, and blamed it on former deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe, whose recollections formed its basis. Then he talked about special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and told the president he would make sure Trump was treated fairly, people familiar with the conversation said.
“I give the investigation credibility,†Rosenstein said, in the words of one administration official offering their own characterization of the call. “I can land the plane.â€
As Brian Buelter of Crooked Media pointed out, Attorney General Barr used the phrase land the plane to avoid questions while he was redacting the Mueller report:
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When Barr was still redacting the Mueller report, he dodged questions by claiming “I’m landing the plane right now,†which I took in the moment as some tossed off cliche, but it looks more and more like code language Trump-loyalists used to describe protecting Trump. pic.twitter.com/3AXV5NxyvD
— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) April 26, 2019
There is no way around it. What WaPo attributed to Rosenstein looks bad, really bad. It appears that the person overseeing the Russia investigation was both trying to keep the investigation going and keep Trump happy. Whether he intended to be or not, Rod Rosenstein was a compromised actor, because he bent to the pressure being exerted by Trump.
Was Rod Rosenstein Protecting Mueller, Trump, or Himself?
The highest levels of the Justice Department has been corrupted and eroded by Trump. The question is who was Rod Rosenstein protecting? Rosenstein was trying to pacify Trump, buy Mueller time, and it seems most important’ to him, save his own job. Rosenstein was no William Barr, but the Trump pressure got to him. He didn’t stand up to the president when he should have, which means that he ended up roped into the fix to cover up for Trump.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
