House Republicans are drawing up articles of impeachment against Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
From the Hill:
A group of conservative House lawmakers have begun drafting a resolution that calls for the impeachment of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the top Department of Justice (DOJ) official overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
The impeachment document makes a series of charges against Rosenstein, the latest sign of escalating efforts among conservatives to oust the DOJ’s No. 2 official, according to a copy of the draft obtained by The Hill.
Looks like the Freedom Caucus is behind it:
Conservative members led by Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), chairman of the House Freedom Caucus and close ally of President Trump, drafted the eight articles of impeachment against Rosenstein.
The articles include allegations that Rosenstein violated federal law by refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena over Congress’s efforts to obtain documents about FBI surveillance during the election, intentionally stalling document production for congressional investigations into possible government misconduct, and failing to enforce key laws and protocols.
But just because they’re being drawn up doesn’t mean they have enough support to pass:
There has been no indication, however, that Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and other House GOP leaders will act on the measure, having largely remained silent amid calls for his removal by hard-line conservatives.
So is this just political partisanship or is there a reasonable basis to get rid of Rosenstein? At this point any effort to get rid of him in order to get at Mueller just looks like people are getting nervous about what he might discover. Maybe just the threat of impeachment is supposed to pressure Rosenstein to shut down Mueller…