Former U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg said Monday he is “surprised” special counsel Robert Mueller did not make a determination about whether President Trump obstructed justice.
Attorney General William Barr sent a letter to Congress on Sunday summarizing Mueller’s findings. He said in addition to finding no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, Mueller also declined to determine whether Trump obstructed justice. Barr said he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein concluded there was insufficient evidence to show the president committed a crime.
During an interview on MSNBC, Rosenberg called Barr a “principled man” but said he would like to see the full Mueller report.
In regards to the obstruction question, Rosenberg said Barr did the right thing by taking matters into his own hands. But as for Mueller declining to make a determination, Rosenberg said, “That strikes me as a little bit curious.”
“I’m a little bit surprised … because prosecutors get paid to make determinations, they make recommendations,” Rosenberg said. “That’s what we do.”
Rosensberg has worked closely with Mueller in the past. He served as counsel to the FBI director when Mueller had the role in the early 2000s. Rosenberg went on to be U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, chief of staff to the FBI director, and acting administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration.
In his interview with MSNBC, where he is a contributor now, Rosenberg suggested a “non-nefarious reason” for Mueller’s obstruction decision.
“If you can’t prosecute a sitting president, then why would you make a judgment about whether or not he can be charged with this thing because that decision, that judgment, that recommendation hangs over a sitting president as if you charged him. That might be an explanation for it,” he said.
