Democrats on the House Oversight and Reform Committee have rejected a Republican request to have Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein testify in public Wednesday alongside President Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen.
Republicans made that request Monday, but Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., said inviting him would be outside the “scope and focus” of the hearing.
Cummings said the goal of the hearing is to review President Trump’s compliance with federal campaign finance laws, potential conflicts of interest, and other issues related to Trump, according to a copy of the letter reviewed by the Washington Examiner.
Cummings wrote that the hearing would not cover the “activities and operations of the Department of Justice,” and that the last-minute addition of a witness would not give members of the committee the notice that they would need to prepare for the hearing.
The top Democrat on the committee did add, however, that Rosenstein might be called in front of the committee in the future.
Monday’s letter from Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C. had pointed out that Cohen has pleaded guilty to lying to Congress and that Rosenstein’s presence might help serve as a check on Cohen’s new testimony. The GOP lawmakers have also accused Democrats of calling the hearing as a political move to undermine Trump, since Cohen is now more willing to testify against the president.
Republicans had also wanted to quiz Rosenstein on allegations made by former FBI general counsel James Baker and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe that Rosenstein invoked the 25th Amendment in discussions about removing Trump from office.
Republicans have long had questions about Rosenstein’s decisions, such as his signing of FISA warrants, his authoring of a memo used by Trump to justify firing FBI Director James Comey, his appointment of Mueller, and his oversight of the special counsel investigation. Rosenstein’s replacement has already been nominated by Trump and is expected to take over next month.
