Behind closed doors, Al Franken, Kirsten Gillibrand blast Rosenstein for withholding information
By Ed O'Keefe May 18 at 9:23 PM
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s meeting with senators on Thursday grew especially heated when he faced questions from two frustrated liberal Democrats, according to multiple people familiar with the meeting.
Rosenstein came to Capitol Hill to discuss the firing of FBI Director James B. Comey and his decision to hire Robert Mueller as a special counsel to probe Russian meddling in last year’s elections. He briefed U.S. senators in what they call “the SCIF,” or a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, a below-ground facility in the Capitol Visitors Center that has an area large enough to hold all 100 senators.
In that space, Rosenstein faced especially aggressive questions from Democrats about the scope of the investigation set to be led by Mueller; why Attorney General Jeff Sessions was involved in the firing of Comey; and why Sessions is helping select the new director, according to multiple people.
Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Al Franken (D-Minn.) especially grilled Rosenstein on Sessions’s role and the scope of Mueller’s new investigation, according to three senators in the room who asked for anonymity to speak frankly about the meeting. Another aide familiar with the exchange described Franken as “heated.” But one of the senators asked to recount the meeting said that Franken and Gillibrand were “passionate” – not rude.
“They weren’t inappropriate, they were asking strong questions that were strongly felt. I didn’t think anybody was inappropriate,” the senator said.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/05/18/behind-closed-doors-al-franken-kirsten-gillibrand-blast-rosenstein-for-withholding-information/
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