General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Indictments Today [View all]H2O Man
(73,536 posts)in both this and response #61. As they are closely related, I'll try to answer both here.
Constitution law allows for the legislative branch to impeach officials in either the executive or judicial branch. Such actions are rare, and are almost exclusively undertaken in cases where laws have been broken. I'm not aware of anything remotely similar to what the House republicans hope to accomplish. It is not only unprecedented, but it on its face a very clear abuse of power.
If, under different circumstances, it was known that Rosenstein was fully aware of the Trump-Miller letter justifying the firing of Mr. Comey, which White House counsel strongly advised Trump not to release, and then knowingly wrote his memo on Comey's handling of the Clinton e-mail situation -- providing cover for firing Comey because of the Russian investigation -- the House could impeach Mr. Rosenstein. But that's the difference between shit and sugar.
What they hope to do -- and this is important -- is to impeach Rosenstein, to provide cover for Trump to fire him before the case goes to the Senate to be tried. The House republicans know that Rosenstein's defense could subpoena, among many other things, all of the republicans' communications about Rosenstein and the investigation. This would unmask their coordinating with Trump directly, to interfere with a criminal investigation.
If (and it's a big if) they had the votes to impeach Rosenstein, Trump will fire him within 36 hours, claiming he cannot stand for the taint of corruption in his administration. Keep in mind that a handful of republican Senators have warned Trump not to fire Rosenstein. So he's not going to allow it time to go to trial.
We are talking about a collection of human beings that do not have a bit of Good in them. There is nothing they won't try, for they have literally zero respect for the Constitution, the rule of law, or this country's people.