Don’t look now, but former deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and former FBI Director James Comey are in a shouting war.
If I were to pick a side, it would be Rosenstein’s. He is not the aggressor. He is also not wrong.
At a gathering of the Greater Baltimore Committee Monday evening, the former deputy attorney general, at last unburdened by office, fired back at the White House critic, claiming the fired FBI chief is a hack posturing as an above-it-all martyr to score lucrative gigs on the anti-Trump resistance circuit.
“[T]he former director is a partisan pundit, selling books and earning speaking fees while speculating about the strength of my character and the fate of my immortal soul,” said Rosenstein, who announced his resignation in April as deputy attorney general. “That is disappointing. Speculating about souls is not a job for police and prosecutors. Generally, we base our opinions on eyewitness testimony.”
His remarks are in reference specifically to a New York Times op-ed Comey authored titled, “How Trump Co-opts Leaders Like Bill Barr.” The former FBI director writes that “proximity to an amoral leader reveals something depressing. I think that’s at least part of what we’ve seen with Bill Barr and Rod Rosenstein.”
Comey adds, “Accomplished people lacking inner strength can’t resist the compromises necessary to survive Mr. Trump and that adds up to something they will never recover from. It takes character like Mr. Mattis’s to avoid the damage, because Mr. Trump eats your soul in small bites.”
This sort of thing is par for the course for Comey. Since he was sacked from the FBI in 2017, he has refashioned himself as a supposedly principles-driven anti-Trump critic. Never mind that whereas the Left was burning Comey in effigy 2016 for making Trump president, he has suddenly gained widespread acceptance and friendship by taking this path. Also, never mind that Comey’s constant running of his mouth has also landed him well-paying speaking gigs and a memoir book deal that netted him more than $2 million.
I would rather a former Justice Department bigwig not spar publicly with the former head of the FBI. But I also do not fault Rosenstein. This has been a long time coming for Comey, whose sniping from the sidelines has made it harder for people like Rosenstein to do their jobs.
[Read: James Comey reacts to Rod Rosenstein calling him a ‘partisan pundit’: ‘I wish him the best’]
On Monday, Rosenstein said he “did not dislike” Comey in the past. In fact, he added, he “admired” him! But that started to change around the time Comey announced there would be no charges brought against Hillary Clinton for maintaining an unauthorized homebrew email server when she was secretary of state, Rosenstein said, characterizing the ex-FBI chief’s handling of the investigation as a career-defining mistake.
“The clearest mistake was the director’s decision to hold a press conference about an open case, reveal his recommendation, and discuss details about the investigation without the consent of the prosecutors and the attorney general,” Rosenstein told the Greater Baltimore Committee. “Then, he chose to send a letter to the Congress on the eve of the election stating that one of the candidates was under criminal investigation, expecting it to be released immediately to the public.”
It is worth noting here that the FBI was instructed explicitly by former Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s Justice Department not to charge Clinton with “gross negligence,” which was the FBI’s chief charge, according to congressional testimony provided by a former bureau attorney. Obviously that reflects poorly on the Obama administration, but it also implies new levels of snake-like behavior on Comey’s part. Was he attempting to go over Lynch’s head in a passive-aggressive fashion when he gave his infamous presser, clearly demonstrating Clinton’s guilt and then abruptly changing gears to announce she would not be prosecuted?
Rosenstein continued Monday, saying, “My soul and character are pretty much the same today as they were two years ago. I took a few hits and made some enemies during my time in the arena, but I held my ground and made a lot of friends. And thanks to them, I think I made the right calls on the things that mattered.”
It is not ideal for the country to see such a public spat between former heads of agencies that trade on trust and credibility. But Rosenstein has a right to respond — and show me the lie in what he said.
