House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows said Monday that the Department of Justice under Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his deputy Rod Rosenstein is just as bad as it was under the Obama administration when it comes to transparency.
“Under Rod Rosenstein and Jeff Sessions, the Department of Justice has had just as much of a transparency problem as it did even under Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch — the bar for which is extremely low. This is disastrous, and it needs to end now,” the North Carolina congressman said in a statement Monday.
Meadows and other Republicans have been pressing the department for documents explaining how the government decided to surveil a former member of President Trump’s campaign staff. Meadows called for the Justice Department to declassify “everything” related to the DOJ and FBI’s actions in the Russia investigation.
Trump had previously asked for declassification, but reversed course last week after he said officials warned him the move could be perceived as interfering with the Russia investigation.
“If they have nothing to hide, it is time for them to act like it,” Meadows said.
Rosenstein was said to be considering resigning from his post after reports last week said he had debated whether to rally Cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment to the Constitution to oust President Trump, and reportedly thought about recording his conversations with the president after former FBI Director James Comey was fired.
Rosenstein denied there was any truth to the reports. He is set to meet with Trump on Thursday, upon the president’s return from the United Nations General Assembly in New York City, to discuss his future at the Justice Department.
Meadows said it’s a “travesty” what’s happening at the Justice Department, regardless of whether the reports are true or not.
“The total lack of transparency and accountability among senior FBI and DOJ officials has devolved into a constant wheel of behind-the-scenes gamesmanship, with anonymous leaks left and right, each seeking to create their own narrative and save face with the public,” he said.
[Opinion: Noel Francisco might take over for Rod Rosenstein. He’s famously okay with presidents firing people.]
