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GOP rep: Memo doesn’t give Trump reason to fire Rosenstein

Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) said Sunday he doesn’t believe a recently declassified memo accusing the Justice Department of surveillance abuses provides an excuse for President Trump to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein or special counsel Robert Mueller.

“No, I don’t,” Wenstrup said when asked if the memo serves as a pretext for a firing.

“When I look at Rod Rosenstein and Christopher Wray, where they are, I know in their agencies they have tremendous patriots who do great work each and every day, and they should stand up for them. But, at the same time, this could be their finest hour. They should work with us in Congress to get to the bottom of what’s taken place,” Wenstrup added on CNN’s “State of the Union,” referring also to the FBI director.

Wenstrup, who is a member of the House Intelligence Committee, noted he previously said he supports Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

{mosads}The four-page memo, released Friday, accuses senior Justice Department officials of improperly using information from the so-called Steele dossier — which originated as an opposition research document during the 2016 campaign — to obtain surveillance warrants on Carter Page, a member of the Trump transition team and former Trump campaign adviser. 

Republicans and Trump have pointed to the memo as proof the Justice Department’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election is biased against the president.

Democrats and some Republicans, however, have blasted the memo as a collection of cherry-picked claims that seek to undermine the FBI.

Wenstrup said Sunday he wants to shed light on all potentially unethical activities within the Justice Department and FBI. He said he’s interested in whether the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court that granted the surveillance warrant knew the dossier was paid for in part by the Democratic National Committee.

“There is a difference between saying it’s politically motivated and actually revealing who paid for it,” he said.