the New York Times reporting tonight that a quote shaken Deputy Attorney
General rod Rosenstein felt used by the White House for his role in the firing
of the former FBI director James Comey that allegation comes as House
Republicans continue to battle with the Justice Department over documents
related to what the president has dubbed spy gate let's talk about it with
Republican congressman from Florida Matt Gaetz who is on the House Judiciary
Committee and he's had a busy week congressman thanks for joining us good
to be with you Shannon okay so we want to play a little bit more of that
interaction between rod Rosenstein and congressman Jordan we'll talk about it
after you listen in why are you keeping information from Congress sir I
certainly hope that your colleagues are not under that impression that is not
accurate sir it is accurate we have caught you hide as your chairman as with
most things in Washington the real work is not done on television and it's not
all done by me trump administration officials are meeting and talking with
your staff every day they're working overtime with teams of FBI employees to
accommodate requests and produce relevant information to this committee
other House committees and several Senate committees he also talked
yesterday about whether or not this was getting personal these were personal
attacks on him how do you respond to those who say that you guys are
showboating up there giving him a hard time there are very valid reasons that
were skeptical of the Deputy Attorney General's answers there are responses to
the requests that we've made to the Justice Department that were improperly
redacted not for national security reasons but just because the information
was embarrassing to the Justice Department of the FBI specifically the
text message Peter struck said where he said no no he won't we'll stop him about
the Trump presidency it was only nine days before that that he opened up on
Papadopoulos and only six days after that he was talking about an insurance
policy against the Trump presidency so we see time and again a Department of
Justice and FBI that cleared Hillary Clinton before even interviewing her and
yet at the same time convicting Donald Trump before even investigating him was
sincerely and so we want to see the documents that predate July 31st
we think that there may have been intelligence collected against the Trump
campaign that we haven't been briefed about and Shannon at the end of the day
it's either elected people that get to conduct oversight or unelected people
run the show and I prefer to live in a world where the elected representative
con representatives of Congress can conduct meaningful oversight
you guys are co-equal branches but beyond that point let's hear from one of
your colleagues across the aisle and I'll give you a chance to respond to
this the House Judiciary Committee they are his fixers and Congress that is you
know about 20 Michael Cohen's sitting there trying to fix this investigation
in the president's favor is that what you're trying to do
no I dress considerably better than Michael Cohen and so I reject the
characterization look we're just trying to do our job I mean Rob Rosen Stein
said on May 1st of this year that he didn't believe there was any
constitutional basis for oversight I mean my goodness it's our job to
appropriated funds and then make sure those funds are used correctly and here
you've got an investigation of the sitting president the United States
where in response to my questioning the Deputy Attorney General wouldn't even
say whether he read the document he signed allowing intelligence to be
collected against someone associated with Donald Trump and so you know I'm
deeply concerned when you have people that aren't telling the truth to
Congress that are hiding documents that aren't national security-related they're
just embarrassing and then at the same time they continue to make these that
are allowed this investigation to persist against the president that is
built on a rotten foundation from biased agents who demonstrated they're biased
in text messages to one another I think it's time to wrap this investigation up
and move on to the important issues that are facing the country
um what you guys pass on Thursday has been described as a non-binding
resolution insisting that the DOJ comply with a committee subpoena for documents
related to the Russian investigation by July 6th does it have any teeth you guys
have had a number of deadlines that have come and gone what does this do
differently than what's happened in the past well the bottom line is no a dozen
but you've seen a small group of us on the Judiciary Committee on an almost
nightly basis trying to share with the American people what's happening in a
rotten investigation for the first time we got the entire House of
Representatives to take an overwhelming vote in
favor of our ability to conduct oversight and demand transparency and so
when the body speaks as a whole this would set up a potential contempt charge
or even an impeachment if fraud Rosenstein in the department of justice
don't give us the documents that we're entitled to and then I think the
American people want to have access to well the president says he believes that
you and mr. Rosen sign will work this all out we'll watch and see of course
we'll be monitoring that deadline next week in the meantime keep us updated and
have a great weekend you too Shannon did you read the FISA application before you
signed it not going to comment about any FISA okay so you won't say to this
committee whether or not you even read the document you signed that authorized
spying on people associated with the Trump campaign I I dispute your
characterization of what that FISA is about sir well that's congressman Matt
gates demanding answers about the FISA application used a monitor former Trump
campaign aide Carter page during yesterday's hearing with Deputy Attorney
General rod Rosenstein an FBI director director Christopher Rea congressman
gates joins us live now congressman good morning good morning and I didn't think
it was a trick question to ask the Deputy Attorney General if he had read
the document that bears his signature that allowed the United States
government to spy on a presidential campaign you'd think that was a softball
question but it shows how mangled things have become at the Department of Justice
and the FBI and so I'm hoping were able to get documents that will provide
answers because we haven't been getting the answers from the senior leadership
congressman you and your colleagues were demanding a lot of answers in that
hearing room yesterday did you get any we certainly didn't get the answers we
wanted and in addition to the clip you just showed there seems to be now new
inconsistency developing in the Department of Justice's story they
previously said that they opened the Trump Russia investigation on July 31st
when they got a communication about George papadopolis but when I asked what
investigative activity occurred before July 31st Rosenstein and struck both
said that's classified which is a weird answer right because if nothing happened
before July 31st you they would just say it it may very well
be Sandra that the president's claims that intelligence was collected against
his campaign were in fact true and if the FBI and Department of Justice made
Liars out of paul ryan and trey gowdy i think they're gonna have to answer for
that you know that that you are saying a lot their congressman and we we were
watching these exchanges yesterday live on this program because the hearing
started about now and it got fiery and your colleague trey
Gowdy was was certainly demanding answers as well and this was another one
of those fiery exchanges watch this we've seen the buyers we need to see the
evidence if you have evidence of wrongdoing by any member of the Trump
campaign campaign presented to the damn grand jury whatever you got finish it
the hell up because this country is being torn apart congressman you were
there you heard it too what did you think of that well I think it's a good
thing that we've actually got someone before the Congress that were holding
accountable trey Gowdy understands that Bob Muller answers to rod Rosen Stein
and if Rosenstein wanted to accelerate the pace if he wanted to show the
American people where this investigation stands we could all we know is the
American people is that the very same people that worked on Hillary Clinton's
investigation then worked on the FBI's Trump Russia investigation and then went
to Muller's investigation and all the while they were spewing venom and bias
that even the Inspector General was saying cast a cloud over whether the
official acts of the government were impacted by that bias now the Inspector
General is a Democrat he also was very critical of that staffing decision to
take the very same people that had worked on the Clinton investigation and
then have them ultimately working for Bob Muller as someone who has worked on
a number of public corruption cases the Inspector General said that that was
very odd and that that was not something that was a standard practice that we
should replicate so time and again bad process seized by the FBI and the
Department of Justice and that's why we'd like to see this come to a
conclusion congressman the the the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee the
committee that was holding the hearing yesterday
said Republicans are requesting documents they know they cannot have he
says this is all an effort and you hear this from other Democrats that this is
an effort on the part of Republicans to undermine the special counsels
investigation what do you say back to that well I would say the special
counsel has done a good enough job undermining his own investigation that's
why the latest CBS poll shows that more than half the country disapproves of the
way that Bob Muller is handling the investigation but here's the binary
choice Sandra we either live in a country where at the end of the day it's
elected people that make the decisions or we live in a country where unelected
people like rod Rosen steiner's never faced the voters get to decide on these
fundamental questions and our belief is that there should be congressional
oversight it's deeply troubling that on May 1st rod Rosen Stein said that there
is no constitutional basis for congressional oversight and I think that
the American people should be deeply troubled by that to have a senior
official in our government who essentially believes that he answers to
no one not even the voters not even the Congress not even the President and
that's troubling to me and so that's why we're going to stay on the case we're
gonna keep demanding documents and we're gonna hold their feet to the fire I no
question to you congressman at the end of that exchange we played leading into
you with rod Rosenstein he told you we have absolutely conveyed all the
questions chairman Nunez has raised and I'm
optimistic that they'll be able to respond respond to him fairly soon have
you had any further communication with the DOJ rod Rosen Stein or do you expect
to soon well that was not chairman Nunez his viewpoint he's very frustrated and
angry to the point of contempt and impeachment if necessary to get these
documents I'm proud to have Devin Nunez is back we've not gotten the answers we
want that's one of the reasons why yesterday the entire Congress took a
vote saying that we demand the documents in seven days and if we don't get them
then a lot of pressure will fall to our leadership will they defend our
institution and our prerogative for oversight or will they roll over for rod
Rosenstein and the rest of the folks of the DOJ who are frustrating our efforts
I hope they'll stand with us and I suspect that they will Congressman Matt
Gaetz fresh off of that grilling of the DOJ and the FBI and the heads of those
of those departments it was theirs it was quite a hearing it was you know a
lot of bitter cops I what experts call me and Lynch would be next yep
Comey Lynch struck we're gonna see them all in public and we should have the
cameras on all right congressman gates thank you top story of the nights and
fireworks on Capitol Hill as lawmakers demanded answers from the top officials
at the FBI and the Department of Justice FBI director Christopher ray and Deputy
Attorney General rod Rosenstein fielded a series of pointed and fiery questions
from House Republicans today trying to get to the bottom of how their agencies
handled the Clinton email investigation and then subsequently the Russia probe
that they began washes I am the deputy turned general United States okay you're
at the boss mr. roses diner that's correct why did you tell Peter struck
not to answer our questions yesterday I didn't computer struck any instructions
Horwitz said his bias is the appropriate explanation for his conduct do you agree
I certainly agree with the findings of the inspector general report and I think
those messages do they do indicate bias we need a date when you found out that
the wife of your deputy was working for people who are actively trying to
undermine president Trump if you have evidence of wrongdoing by any member of
the Trump campaign campaign presented to the damn grand jury whatever you got
finish it the hell does this country is being torn apart
you're now Florida Republican congressman Matt Gaetz among those
demanding answers in that hearing today congressman good to see you here in
Florida good to see you so I watched as much as I could this morning before we
started getting ready for the debate of this hearing and it was it was pretty
heated in there what do you think was accomplished today we learned that rod
Rosenstein won't tell us whether or not he even read the FISA application that
resulted in spying on officials associated with the Trump campaign and I
think there's a real transition that occurred today this is going from just
being Robert Muller's probe to a probe that rod Rosenstein is responsible for
because he's ultimately who appointed Muller and so the staffing decisions to
demonstrate bias the accountability kind of the cleanup of people like Peter
struck and Lisa Paige should fall to Rosenstein and we didn't get the answers
we wanted today let's listen to our representative Jordan he's pressing
Rosenstein over the releasing of documents which I know has been top of
mind for all of you watch this part the House of Representatives is going to go
on record saying you haven't complied with requests from a separate and equal
branch of government that you haven't complied with subpoenas and you got
seven days to get your act together and I wonder why you won't give us what
we've asked for sir I certainly hope that your colleagues are not under that
impression that is not accurate sir it is accurate we have caught you high
discrimination we allow those in science
I mean how do you square that well there have been a number of circumstances
where we found documents that were responsive to the requests from Congress
but they weren't produced to us so that was deeply troubling also I think you've
seen mr. Jordans frustration bubbled beyond just a small group of members on
the Judiciary Committee - now the entire House of Representatives taking a vote
and virtually every Republican saying we do have a role for oversight rod Rosen
Stein has frustrated that oversight and we want the documents in seven days at
the heart of what you are digging for is whether or not there was a political
agenda in place to try to disrupt the Trump campaign and whether or not some
of these agents Peter struck Lisa Paige took it upon themselves to try to
instigate or set a pretext for investigating the Trump campaign did you
get any further down that road today I think both today and yesterday
particularly where we got the chance for the first time to interview Peter struck
we learned a lot more about the ways in which the bias not only existed but it
actually manifested an investigative decisions the Inspector General a
Democrat appointed by Barack Obama even said that he could not rule out bias as
the reason why the Hillary Clinton investigation was pushed aside and the
Donald Trump Russia investigation was elevated beyond what the facts would
have called for so the main question is whether or not these agents tried to
figure out a way to sort of poke holes in the campaign the Trump campaign to
kind of put feelers out there and see if they put out that bait would anybody
bite would they say you know oh sure I'd love to hear some dirt on Hillary
Clinton and that possibly it's even been suggested that they would then be
entrapped in a situation where it appeared that they were doing something
wrong is that what you believe happened that's what the documents will show
today when I asked rod Rosenstein if there was any intelligence collected on
the Trump campaign before the George papadopolis report he would not answer
that question now if the answer was no he could have clearly said no instead he
said it's classified which seems to suggest there's information there that
was intelligence collected on the Trump campaign and and that would indicate
whether or not this was entrapment or baiting of some kind for
political purpose so what are you do next to get the answers to those
questions the question is whether or not our leadership now having heard from the
entire House of Representatives on this question will say either the documents
show up or we start the impeachment proceedings of Rod Rosenstein and what
about the president is there more than he could do well you know the
president's in an awkward position here because I think the bias is reflected
against him the president could declassify documents
from before the Papadopoulos report and that would tell us whether or not there
was spying or intelligence collection on the Trump campaign and I've encouraged
the president to do that we saw trey Gowdy encouraging them to come to some
conclusion or to present evidence if they have it what is your sense of the
Moller timeframe right now well we don't know it and that's what's so troubling I
mean we're almost two years into the trump presidency my goodness if there
was evidence of collusion I think the country should see it unfortunately now
we've got a circumstance where so many Americans are in doubt but fewer and
fewer latest CBS poll shows more than half the country does not approve of how
Robert Muller is it is handling the investigation more than half the country
also believes that the Moller investigation is politically motivated
not based on the fact see what mr. Boehner comes up with and how it was it
was carried out good to see a great job it was an interesting night we'll see
how it plays out good to see you sir all right all right
we've got Florida Republican congressman House Judiciary Committee member at gate
said he was going to be at this very very big hearing at tomorrow featuring
mr. Strock and a lot of people are wondering why we can't all hear it
because he can he's concerned as well he thinks everybody should listen to what
mr. Strock has to say just fresh air good idea congressman good to be on Neil
and I absolutely agree the lack of transparency has not served the country
well in any of these matters and so I think that when we've got the key people
available to tell their story and respond to questions that we ought to do
that and the most open and transparent way possible the president holds that
view I hold that view but unfortunately it's a minority view here in the
Congress what happened now I'm told that those are the EPI including the
president FBI director who was concerned about mr. Strock speaking this way or in
an in an open form and that some secrets could be compromised
so whose idea was this I don't know I do know that mr. struck is scheduled to
come back to the Judiciary Committee in July so it'll be a pretty aggressive
schedule with Comey and Lynch and struck as potential witnesses that we want to
hear more about also Lisa Paige who was structs go friend at the FBI so she's
testing that follow up one right correct and we hope to have mr. struck and an
open hearing as well so I don't know whose idea this was I think it's a bad
idea I think that mr. struck will be asked initially about the August 8 2016
text message where he said no no he won't will stop him regarding the trump
presidency you'll recall that it was just nine days
before that that he opened up on Papadopoulos and just six days after
that statement that he said there was an insurance policy against the trump
presidency one thing that we'd like to really get to the bottom of is whether
or not July 31st was truly the moment when the Trump investigation with Russia
began or whether or not there was intelligence collected on the Trump
campaign previously those are questions that mr. struck is uniquely qualified to
answer and I hope we learned more tomorrow so congressman just to be clear
here there was a threat of a subpoena for him to testify he volunteered he
came so someone you know who decided it would be best that this be a closed-door
affair but it's Europe just to clarify here that in the next appearance it's
not that right I hope all appearances are in the open I
opposed the Andrew McCabe deposition behind closed doors as well I just don't
think they're doing things behind closed doors to serve the country well this is
something Americans are focused on they're smart they know the facts and we
ought to ask the questions in front of the cameras one of the questions a lot
of folks want to get clear from Mississauga is what he knew and when he
knew it for example in the context it is very disparaging remarks about them
candidate Trump was he pretty was Lisa page privy to any information beyond
their whatever personal contempt for for then presidential candidate Trump was
that were they saying what they were saying in
in the context of some Russian rumors or collusions of did that that that would
you know prompt this type of comment what do you think
well you're right the question goes beyond just personal bias the question
is whether or not the bias of Peter struck manifested itself in the form of
investigative decisions remember struck was the lead investigator on the Hillary
Clinton email investigation he was on the FBI's investigation into President
Trump and Russia and then he was drafted onto the Muller probe so that's going
three for three and we ought to know whether or not
there was bias in terms of the prioritization of the Trump Russia
investigation over the Hillary Clinton email investigation you'll recall that
the Inspector General has said that he was not sure that it wasn't bias that
resulted in a tamping down of the investigation of Hillary Clinton and
acceleration of the Trump investigation that would be very improper and only
questioning will fully illuminate that fact pattern um
Congress or any of a tight schedule but I'm curious I know a lot of comments and
texts and individuals obviously from strucked at least a page now we know
about ene McCabe and all did not think very much of Donald Trump and all these
other unidentified agents who similarly did not think much of Donald Trump so I
had a clear bias against the guy I have is yet to run into and all the study I
haven't read nearly the volumes on this as you AB but in anything that I'd read
not one agent that seemed to have a bias toward Bob John light I have not seen
that either and it's not just the agents deal it's also the attorneys you'll
recall one attorney who also was on all three investigations was saying viva la
resistance literally associating himself with the resistance movement to the
Trump presidency while he was serving at the Department of Justice and at the FBI
I should say and so I think that we need to expose who these people are we need
to find out what evidence they handled developed what interviews they conducted
because you may see a lot of the evidence regarding the President as the
fruit of the poisonous tree if it was collected improperly or in the absence
of compliance with the law congressman thank you very good singing again Thank
You Neil
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét