Speaker Paul Ryan suggested Wednesday that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s denial that he mulled ways to topple President Trump are credible, and dodged a question about whether the House should consider sanctioning Rosenstein if he declines to testify on the matter.
“If you are going to stack the credibility of Rod Rosenstein against Andy McCabe, who was fired for lying, I’ll go with Rod Rosenstein,” said Ryan, R-Wis., when asked about Rosenstein. “I’ll leave it at that.”
On the question of sanctions, Ryan said that should be up to the relevant House committee.
“I would defer to the Judiciary Committee as to what kind of hearing they want to have, what kind of witnesses they want to have,” Ryan said Wednesday after a closed-door hearing with Republicans.
This week, House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows, R-N.C., said he and other lawmakers are seeking to compel Rosenstein to publicly testify about media reports that he was working to undermine President Trump and that he suggested secretly recording the president.
“We are pushing very hard to make sure that he comes in under oath to Congress and let the American people judge for themselves,” Meadows said on Fox News. “I can’t tell you that if he does not, there are a number of us that are standing by, really, with impeachment documents. That said, we cannot have this kind of activity continue at DOJ.”
[Related: Here’s what Rod Rosenstein’s dismissal could mean for Robert Mueller]
