Rod Rosenstein: Only a Dum-Dum Would Claim that Barr is Misrepresenting Mueller's Report

Well, that's the spirit of it, anyway.

More conspiracy theories into the CNN/MSNBC/NeverTrump trash-fire.

In his first interview since the conclusion of the special counsel's investigation, Mr. Rosenstein beat back suggestions that Mr. Barr is trying to mislead the public by releasing only a four-page summary of Robert Mueller's investigation...

"He's being as forthcoming as he can, and so this notion that he’s trying to mislead people, I think is just completely bizarre," Mr. Rosenstein said.

...

"It would be one thing if you put out a letter and said, 'I'm not going to give you the report,'" Mr. Rosenstein said. "What he said is, 'Look, it’s going to take a while to process the report. In the meantime, people really want to know what's in it. I'm going to give you the top-line conclusions.' That’s all he was trying to do."

Mr. Rosenstein, Mr. Barr, their top advisers and a member of Mr. Mueller’s team have been involved in reviewing the report for material related to intelligence sources, continuing investigations, grand-jury matters and the privacy of individuals not charged with crimes. Mr. Rosenstein wouldn't say how it was going, only that the public should have "tremendous confidence" in Mr. Barr.

Meanwhile, Kim Strassel writes at the Wall Street Journal that Obama officials, Deep Staters, and Democrats are freaking out because they're afraid of what Barr's investigations might find -- and they're right to be afraid.

Quoting from Instapundit, Strassel first notes that Comey refused to brief the Gang of 8 leaders of Congress and the intelligence committees about his illegal spying on a presidential candidate, and the absurd reasons he offers for having so refused.

Here's a more plausible explanation: Mr. Comey and his crew have also testified that they were all convinced Mrs. Clinton would win the election. That would have meant that no politician other than the incoming Democratic president would have known the FBI had spied on the Trump team. Nor would the public. A Clinton presidency would have ensured no accountability.

Mr. Trump's victory destroyed that scenario, and it became clear that the new Republican president would soon know that the former Democratic administration had surveilled his campaign on the basis of information from his rival. At that point two things happened. Neither was accidental, and both were aimed, again, at forestalling accountability.

First, Mr. Comey and other intelligence officials, including Mr. Clapper, engineered the public release of all the scandalous claims against Mr. Trump, to provide some cover. As liberal commentator Matt Taibbi notes in his new book, "Hate Inc." Mr. Comey's Jan. 6, 2017, briefing of the president-elect about the dossier was a classic Washington "trick." It served as the "pretext" to get the details out, a "news hook" to allow the press to publish the dossier--with its salacious fictions about prostitutes and Moscow hotel rooms--and go wild.

Who's been telling you that much, forever?

Democrats used the furor in their successful push for a special counsel, which gave greater legitimacy to the FBI's probe. The appointment of a special counsel also froze other oversight. Congress can’t have access to certain documents or ask witnesses certain questions, since that might interfere with the probe. The White House can't demand answers, because that too would interfere. Mr. Trump's adversaries got to hide behind Robert Mueller for nearly two years.

Click on this WSJ link to read the whole thing. But it's paywalled, so you can't see it unless you subscribe. Oh well, even if you don't subscribe, give Strassel the hit.

posted by Ace of Spades at 04:40 PM

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