Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Rosenstein Shows Support For Mueller Inquiry Despite Republican Criticism

WASHINGTON, Dec 13 (Reuters) – Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on Wednesday downplayed Republican lawmakers’ concerns that attorneys and agents investigating Russian alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election might be biased against President Trump.

Republicans on the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee ramped up their attacks on Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is heading the federal investigation, at a hearing.

Republicans said they had reviewed more than 300 anti-Trump text messages exchanged last year between an FBI agent and an attorney who worked on Mueller’s probe.

But Rosenstein said Mueller properly removed the agent, Peter Strzok, from the probe after the texts were brought to light by the Justice Department’s inspector general and added he was confident that Mueller was not letting bias seep into the investigation.

When asked at one point by the committee’s ranking Democrat whether he had any good cause for firing Mueller, he replied: “No.”

Members of the committee released the contents of some of the text messages between Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page.

In the texts, Trump is referred to as an “utter idiot” and “loathsome human,” according to the committee’s chairman Bob Goodlatte.

Democrats downplayed the texts and other complaints, saying there was no evidence of bias.

“Peter Strzok did not say anything about Donald Trump that the majority of Americans weren’t also thinking at the same time,” said the committee’s top Democrat, Jerrold Nadler.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.