Michael Hernandez
26 July 2018•Update: 27 July 2018
By Michael Hernandez
WASHINGTON
Attorney General Jeff Sessions backed his deputy Rod Rosenstein on Thursday as nearly a dozen House Republicans seek to oust the second in command at the Justice Department.
"My deputy Rod Rosenstein is highly capable, I have the highest confidence in him," Sessions told reporters at the Justice Department. His remarks came after 11 Republican lawmakers in the House of Representatives introduced articles of impeachment against Rosenstein on Wednesday.
The highly unusual move comes after months of criticism from President Donald Trump for the special counsel probe into Russia's alleged attempts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, and possible Trump campaign collusion.
Following Sessions' decision to recuse himself from matters involving the Russia probe, Rosenstein has overseen Robert Mueller's investigation.
House Speaker Paul Ryan threw cold water on the bid to oust Rosenstein Thursday, saying he does not support the effort.
"I don't think we should be cavalier with this process or with this term," he said. "I don't think that this rises to the level of high crime and misdemeanors."
Representative Mark Meadows, who chairs a far-right caucus within the Republican Party, introduced the impeachment articles alongside fellow House Freedom Caucus leader Jim Jordan.
Meadows said Rosenstein should be impeached because of the Justice Department's "stonewalling" of congressional oversight attempts, and Rosenstein's role in processing surveillance warrants for a Trump campaign aide.
"This level of conduct, paired with the failure to even feign an interest in transparency, is reprehensible. And whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat, this kind of obstruction is wrong—period," Meadows said in a statement.
But Ryan, whose support would be critical in advancing the articles of impeachment Meadows and his fellow Republicans introduced, dismissed the claim that the Justice Department has been noncompliant with congressional requests.
"We, since I got involved, have been getting a lot of compliance from DoJ on the document requests. We do not have full compliance, and we have to get full compliance, but we've been making tremendous progress to that point," he said.
