Do you think Rosenstein is being smart?

[cynatnite]

Rosenstein may have explained to tRump that he may not get the answer he wants with this investigation.

Or maybe Rosenstein wants to protect his job, but then he could still be fired when he tells tRump that the investigation was not politically motivated.

Maybe Rosenstein knows that if he's fired for not giving tRump the results he wants, this regime's house of cards will crash and burn.

On the other hand, this sets a terrible precedent allowing a president to dictate to the DOJ and making demands.

Do appeasements ever end well?

[unblock]

1. honestly i don't know what i'd do in his shoes.

i'd immediately start up an investigation (or add to mueller's scope) regarding the launch of a counter-investigation as yet another obstruction of justice / abuse of power charge.

however, i don't know that i'd just be defiant and say no, knowing that would get me fired for insubordination. i might do exactly what some suspect he's doing, officially starting the investigation but slow-playing it to allow the real investigations to continue without meaningful interference.

[cynatnite]

4. It smacks of appeasement

to the degree that it only satisfies for a short time. tRump could tweet on and on about it, demand answers immediately and fire Rosenstein for dragging his feet.

There are a lot of ways to look at this and I don't see any good outcome.

[matt819]

5. Not really

In US bureaucracies, the IG is the go-to office for allegations of impropriety. The DOJ received just such an allegation, however specious and however questionable the source. There's really no other choice other than to refer it to the IG.

This kind of answers the question, who investigates the investigators. Well, the IG in the DOG would do just that. Of course, they are likely to find that the allegations are bogus, as is the man who made the allegation, and it's also likely - or I'm hopeful - that they will uncover information that would be passed along to Mueller to add fuel to his efforts.

[cynatnite]

6. Thanks! n/t

[sharp_stick]

2. I hope so

He's between a rock and a hard place.

If he resigns trump's just going to replace him with someone who'll roll over for everything and we've already seen that congress has zero interest in holding him accountable for anything he does.

[marylandblue]

3. He is doing what the government does with all reports of mismanagement and corruption

He is referring it to the IG. Same thing would happen if anyone else reported an FBI office for doing something improper. So that's smart.