Rod Rosenstein will resign from the position of Deputy Attorney General, effective with the confirmation of Bill Barr as Attorney General. This is very good news for the Trump Administration, in that the DAG oversees the daily running of the DoJ and is the immediate supervisor of the FBI Director.
I've made no secret of my belief that the appointment of Rosenstein as DAG was part of a corrupt deal Jeff Sessions made with Chuck Schumer and possibly some Republican Senators to get confirmed as AG. Fox News provided a handy reprise of Rosenstein's first days as DAG:
Fox News Research
✔
@FoxNewsResearch
Rosenstein's First Days at DOJ:
—2017—
•4/25: Confirmed 94-6
•5/9: Wrote memo outlining concerns w/ Comey’s conduct
•5/9: Trump fired Comey citing Rosenstein memo
•5/16: Reportedly raised idea of recording Trump, invoking 25th amend. to remove Trump
•5/17: Appointed Mueller
166 8:48 AM - Sep 24, 2018
'Nuff said--his conflicts, stonewalling, and protection of the Deep State/Swamp have been well documented.
At the time Barr was nominated, it was widely reported that Barr had made a condition for his acceptance the ability to name his own DAG. While it was added that he had withdrawn that condition, the suspicion remains strong that one of his earlier acts as AG would have been to fire Rosenstein, and that Rosenstein--knowing his days were numbered--decided to leave ahead of the broom in the hope of salvaging his reputation. Such as it is.
This development should greatly strengthen Barr's hand at DoJ--as witness his reported condition--especially in cleaning out corrupt career players. It should also give him a trustworthy aid to oversee DoJ while Barr personally grapples with the Russia Hoax.
I didn't expect Barr to collect any "resignations" so soon. This is very good news. DoJ must fear that a new sheriff is coming to town.
ReplyDeleteQuestion - is an AG able to hire/promote/transfer personnel as he sees fit? Or is the DoJ just another fixture of the D.C. swamp?
dfp21, my suspicion has been that a deal was made. Barr wouldn't come in saying 'Rosenstein's gone,' as if he were dictating, but he would have the discretion. The job wouldn't have been worth it if someone else dictated the key appointments to him. There's no doubt in my mind that this is a blow to the Dems.
ReplyDeleteI don't know exactly how hire/promote/transfer works at DoJ, and of those three I suspect 'transfer' is the most important for our purposes. The key for Barr will be having reliable people, first, at the leadership level--and that seems to be accomplished now--and, second, to extend that to the division heads. Here's a sketch of what that entails:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Justice#Organization
If that can be accomplished, the leadership and division heads can take care of the hiring and promoting--and also removing. You don't want Barr to be totally tied up in the nitty gritty of personnel decisions on that level. Removing is difficult in the government, and that's where transferring comes in. There are probably division heads that Barr will want to move to make room for his own people. There may be ways for him to encourage that.
dfp21, Paul Mirengoff gives a good overview of all the reasons why Rosenstein should have been fired long ago--and, really, why he should never have been hired. This explains why Rosenstein prefers to resign rather than be fired, because if Barr had to fire him he would surely have cited most of these reasons that Mirengoff gives. These reasons all amount to ethical and professional malfeasance, which Rosenstein would not want officially attached to his name. One are in which I disagree with Mirengoff is his expressed incomprehension as to why Trump didn't fire Rosenstein long ago. The problem is that, while the President nominates, the Senate advises and consents. It's all time consuming and requires support from the Senate, which probably would not have been forthcoming early on--confirm the guy and then fire him two or three months later, forcing the Senate to go through the same drill. The key moment was when Grassley publicly stated that once Kavanaugh was confirmed he'd be up for giving Trump the AG he deserved. That was also the handwriting on the wall for Rosenstein.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2019/01/report-rosenstein-will-be-out-soon.php
Via CTH,
ReplyDeleteBest Dobbs – On Mueller and Rosenstein Collaboration: When are People Going to Admit “The Republicans Got Rolled”…
Dobbs specifically states that McConnell and Ryan were complicit in allowing the Dems to extend the Russia Hoax and get the Special Counsel witchhunt going. I presume this was the Swamp's idea of tying Trump's hands. That he has accomplished as much as he has is remarkable. And now, hopefully, he'll be freeing himself from these restraints.