Rosenstein Says Trump Russia Probe Is Not a Fishing Expedition

[pnwmom]

Source: Bloomberg

In recent weeks, Mueller has expanded the focus of the investigation from the 2016 election to a broad range of transactions involving Trump’s businesses, as well as those of some the president’s associates, according to a person familiar with the probe.

“The special counsel is subject to the rules and regulations of the Department of Justice, and we don’t engage in fishing expeditions,” said Rosenstein, who has more than 25 years of experience working in the Justice Department through Republican and Democratic administrations.

Investigators are looking into the business dealings of Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, now a White House adviser, and his former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, two other people familiar with the investigation said this week. All of the people spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the continuing probe.

Mueller has asked the White House to preserve all communications related to a June 2016 meeting involving the president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., Kushner, Manafort and Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, along with Russian-American lobbyist and former Soviet counterintelligence officer Rinat Akhmetshin.


Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-06/rosenstein-says-special-counsel-not-on-trump-fishing-expedition

---

So the investigation is not a fishing expedition, and it involves both Jared and Junior.

No wonder DT is beside himself.

[INdemo]

1. What would anyone like to bet that the

shredders have been very busy?

[SHRED]

3. Their attempt will leave suspicious gaps

Also, it's very difficult if not impossible to erase electronic records.

[SCVDem]

12. It's not the hard copies that will get them

Is anything really deleted forever?

Now give us your hard drives and memory chips!

[greeny2323]

2. Witch

LOL. Could someone ask POTUS why Rosenstein doesn't think it is a witch hunt?

[brooklynite]

15. Simple: "Rosenstein is a pro-Clinton Democat"

[SHRED]

4. They are already reeling in the catch

No "expedition" needed.

[Honeycombe8]

5. True. I went to Freeperville to see what they were most concerned about.

There were anxious & angry posts about why isn't Mueller investigating Clinton's collusion with Russia? Why only Trump? That shows it's partisan. An appeal should be made after done on the grounds they refused to investigate Clinton! Things like that.

They are so stupid! The FBI and CIA were investigating RUSSIA'S INTERFERENCE and hacking of our election system. They were not investigating American individuals at all. They went where the evidence took them. The evidence lead them to the Trump team, NOT to the Clinton team. And let's get real...Russia wanted Trump to win. So it's ludicrous to think that Russia would have been interested in colluding with Clinton. They were plotting AGAINST Clinton.

That investigation was turned over to Mueller. He and his team will follow the evidence, wherever it takes them. The obstruction of justice investigation is of course specific as to Trump, and different from the Russia investigation.

They don't go out to investigate someone, and then look for evidence to support that.

Oh, and they also enthusiastically support the "Fire McMaster" effort that is underway. The bots are going strong on that one, with 50,000 posts for firing McMaster recently (McMaster is on to Putin...Putin wants him gone, apparently). http://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-defends-national-security-adviser-h-r-mcmaster-amid-calls-for-his-firing/

[pnwmom]

7. And they're overlooking the fact that Comey did spend a year investigating Hillary's emails

and related matters -- and reached the conclusion that no crimes were committed. And the only reason he's not the one investigating DT is because DT fired him.

[Igel]

10. They apparently impaneled a grand jury.

But it returned no indictments.

Keep the distinction between "no crime" and "no indictments." It's not as satisfying, but leads to less hypocrisy in the future.

Clinton likely committed no crime, but that's not Comey's call. When he says they found nothing to charge her with, they don't say she did nothing wrong.

You can have broken the law and be found guilty.
You can have broken the law and be found not guilty.
You can have not broken the law and be found guilty.
You can have not broken the law and be found not guilty.

Only in rare instances do judges step out of the legal system to ex catedra say that the defendant is innocent, and that's of no legal consequence.

Nixon was never found guilty. "Not guilty" as a verdict or because there's no prosecution doesn't mean "innocent." Sadly, while we have "not guilty" not necessarily meaning innocent, we don't have a common contrast for "having committed an act and therefore being guilty" that contrasts with "having been tried and found guilty." Sounds rather oxymoronic to say, "Fred's been found not guilty but is guilty," in a way that "Fred's been found guilty but is innocent" doesn't.

[pnwmom]

11. Well, since this crime required intent, and they could find no intent, they found no crime.

Which is not the same as saying "innocent," but close enough.

[Honeycombe8]

17. In their opinion, that's one reason WHY Comey had to be fired. He was in the tank for HRC. nt

[bucolic_frolic]

8. They are consistent, that much is a given with them

They view investigations as political ... you target an individual, then manufacture or stretch the evidence

That's what they did with HRC

So in their dim minds, investigating Russia is the same, it begins with Trump as a political target

They are crazy

[Honeycombe8]

18. Exactly. That is how the Repubs do it...they LOOK for crimes, to go after a person.

This is an investigation by teh govt. Not by the Dem. Party. So there's that. But real investigators don't start with wanting to get someone and look for support for that. They investigate something that already exists, and follow the evidence.

The freepers really are ignorant of how investigations and the law work.

[dalton99a]

9. Makes you wonder how many of them use this keyboard:

[Honeycombe8]

19. LOL. +1. nt

[Achilleaze]

6. Not fishing. Hunting the republican TreasonWeasels

to protect America.

[BigmanPigman]

13. Since they already have erased a lot of the evidence,

why doesn't Mueller save time and ask for/subpoena ALL of their hard drives and everything else that could have damaging info at the same time?

[Honeycombe8]

20. I've wondered that, too. nt

[L. Coyote]

14. And these carefully scripted leaks are intended to deflect from the fact Trump is the target.

And the Republicans screaming about the leaks is part of their leaking plan to make the leaks they are leaking more believable.

The leaks revealing how the Republicans are lying are not the Republican leaks however. Guess which leakers liar Sessions wants to go after!

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[Honeycombe8]

21. Excellent point. nt

[riversedge]

16. WP: Rosenstein: Special counsel Mueller can investigate any crimes he uncovers in Russia probe

No doubt the trump-Kushner clan is steaming over this comment.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/rosenstein-special-counsel-mueller-can-investigate-any-crimes-he-uncovers-in-russia-probe/2017/08/06/2209365a-7aae-11e7-83c7-5bd5460f0d7e_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_rosenstein-1213pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.fb168a59ebc8




Rosenstein: Special counsel Mueller can investigate any crimes he uncovers in Russia probe

Attorney General Jeff Sessions, left, and Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, right, attend a briefing Friday at the Justice Department in Washington on leaks of classified material. (Andrew Harnik/AP)
By Kelsey Snell and John Wagner August 6 at 11:57 AM

Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein said Sunday that the expanding investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election is continuing apace, even as President Trump dismissed the probe as “a total fabrication.”

Rosenstein said special counsel Robert S. Mueller III can investigate any crimes that he might discover within the scope of his probe, but the deputy attorney general would not discuss which individuals are the subject of their inquiry. The interview comes days after Trump said he believes it would be inappropriate for Mueller to dig into Trump family finances.

“The special counsel is subject to the rules and regulations of the Department of Justice, and we don’t engage in fishing expeditions,” Rosenstein said when asked about the probe in an interview on “Fox News Sunday.”

[Honeycombe8]

22. Yeah, I bet he's steaming hot over these recent remarks. With smoke...

I bet there's smoke coming out of his nostrils, his ears, his wherever...

[L. Coyote]

23. kick for visibility