Meadows goes after Rosenstein, who says Justice Department won't be extorted

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has lashed out at Republican allies of President Donald Trump who have drafted articles of impeachment against him, saying the Justice Department won't be extorted or give in to threats.

Rosenstein, speaking at a question-and-answer session at the Newseum in Washington Tuesday, chided the lawmakers who have prepared the document by saying that "they can't even resist leaking their own drafts" and that they lack "the courage to put their name on it."

The Washington Post on Monday reported that members of the House Freedom Caucus, a hard-right group of Republican lawmakers led by North Carolina U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows, had drawn up articles of impeachment against Rosenstein.

A person familiar with the effort but who was not authorized to discuss it publicly confirmed it to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Tuesday. Republican leaders have not signed on to that effort.

Meadows has been railing against Rosenstein for weeks, complaining that the Justice Department has been moving too slowly to produce documents sought by Congress.

An ally of President Donald Trump, Meadows is especially interested in documents related to the now-completed investigation of former presidential candidate and secretary of state Hillary Clinton's emails.

Meadows has also taken an interest in other Justice Department probes and says it is time to shut down the investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into Russia's roll in the 2016 presidential election and whether there was any collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.

Quoting an anonymous source, CNN reported Wednesday that the Justice Department had informed Meadows and other Republican lawmakers recently "that it would not turn over a memo Rosenstein drafted detailing the scope of Mueller's investigation."

CNN said that because it deals with an ongoing investigation, such a document would not ordinarily be shared with Congress.

Trump weighed in on the issue on Twitter Wednesday.

"A Rigged System - They don’t want to turn over Documents to Congress," the president wrote. "What are they afraid of? Why so much redacting? Why such unequal “justice?” At some point I will have no choice but to use the powers granted to the Presidency and get involved!"

Rosenstein appeared to be resolute in response to congressional attacks Tuesday.

"I can tell you there have been people who have been making threats privately and publicly against me for quite some time, and I think they should understand by now, the Department of Justice is not going to be extorted," Rosenstein said, in response to a question about news reports on the articles of impeachment.

"We're going to do what's required by the rule of law," he added. "And any kind of threats that anybody makes are not going to affect the way we do our job."

He did not elaborate on what he meant by threats, but some congressional Republicans have excoriated him for his oversight role of Mueller's investigation into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

A House Republican memo released in February said that Rosenstein approved the renewal of a secret surveillance warrant to monitor the communications of a former Trump campaign associate and that the warrant application had relied excessively on Democrat-funded opposition research.

Some lawmakers have also criticized Rosenstein and the Justice Department for what they say is a slow response to lawmakers' demands for documents, including about the now-resolved Hillary Clinton email probe.

Trump has also repeatedly lambasted Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, whose recusal from the Russia investigation laid the groundwork for the appointment of Mueller.

Some Congressional observers say Republican leaders in the House and Senate have not embraced the Freedom Caucus attacks on Rosenstein and the chances that he would actually be impeached are minimal.

A group of prominent members of the GOP called Republicans for the Rule of Law this week released a video that is a compilation of clips in which top Republican leaders like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Vice President Mike Pence praise Rosenstein for his integrity and impartiality.

Rosenstein said that while the Justice Department supports congressional oversight, lawmakers must also understand that their duty is not to interfere with ongoing investigations.

"If we were to just open our doors to allow Congress to come and rummage through the files, that would be a serious infringement on the separation of powers," he said. "It might resolve a dispute today, but it would have negative repercussions in the long run, and we have a responsibility to defend the institution."

Meadows tweeted after Rosenstein's remarks: "If he believes being asked to do his job is 'extortion,' then Rod Rosenstein should step aside and allow us to find a new Deputy Attorney General — preferably one who is interested in transparency."

Rosenstein repeatedly refused to discuss Mueller's investigation. He deflected one question about whether he believed the Justice Department can indict a sitting president by noting, generally, the existence of a legal opinion that says the commander in chief may not be charged while in office.

"There's been a lot of speculation in the media about this. I just don't have anything more to say about it," Rosenstein said. "When the issue arose, someone in the department reached a legal conclusion, and that's what it is."

Asked about an FBI raid last month in New York that targeted Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, Rosenstein said additional safeguards exist when it comes to searching the offices of an attorney, including consultation with Justice Department in Washington.

"What we're looking for, if we do search an attorney's office, we're not looking for privileged information," Rosenstein said. "We don't want that. In fact, we could create a lot of problems for ourselves if we inadvertently get access to privileged information."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

