Questions For Federalist Society Member and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein
Was the no. 2 at the Justice Department a foreign asset?
One of my favorite nicknames President Trump ever bestowed upon anyone was the one he chose for Rod Rosenstein, the no. 2 at the Justice Department who ultimately ended up as counsel for NSO Group.
Trump reportedly called Rosenstein “Mister Peepers,” a name that became only more relevant once Rosenstein decamped to work for the Israeli spyware firm that’s now embroiled in international scandal after scandal. Peepin’ Rod indeed.
Well, Mister Peepers is going to have to sit for a deposition in a lawsuit against him.
Here’s how Law & Crime describes it:
Rod Rosenstein, who was Deputy Attorney General from April 2017 to May 2019, has a deposition scheduled for Sept. 15 in the case against the Attorney General’s office, the Justice Department, and the FBI by former agent Peter Strzok. The ex-Deputy Attorney General served as the No. 2 for both Jeff Sessions and Bill Barr.
Two lawsuits against federal law enforcement officials and agencies by Strzok and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page stem from the December 2017 release of text messages between the two in which they exchanged concerns about a possible Trump presidency. The messages also revealed that Strzok and Page were having an extramarital affair. The disclosure of the texts animated conservatives and Trump supporters, who claimed that the messages proved the existence of a so-called “Deep State” that was working to undermine the then-president, even before he took office.
NSO Group was paid $5 million from the Justice Department’s coffers for a one year license in 2019. That’s somewhat unheard of in the federal government contracting space. Did Rod Rosenstein sign off on this deal before going to serve as their attorney? If not, who did?
Rosenstein was the highest ranking Fed Soc member in the Justice Department and the longest serving U.S. attorney before being appointed Deputy Attorney General.
We might well ask: Who is Rod Rosenstein really? Here he is in 1982 making the typical DR3.
OK then.
We’ve already explored how the Federalist Society is a foreign intelligence operation backed by two American billionaires with ultimate ties to China — Barre Seid and Peter Thiel — and directed by Leonard Leo.
This September 15th deposition presents a number of opportunities to ask Rosenstein questions under oath. (Congressman Steve King has told me that he’s particularly slippery under oath but it’s worth a shot anyway.)
Here are a few of mine.
Why were you assigned the case to prosecute General James Cartwright for leaking about the joint Israeli-US operation involving Stuxnet? How did you feel about Cartwright being pardoned by President Obama?
Did Rosenstein, like Jared Kushner, want Joseph Lieberman to be the new director at the FBI?
Did Rosenstein know Carter Page was a confidential informant for Christians In Action when Rosenstein drafted the memo reining in the Mueller Investigation?
Why did Rod Rosenstein limit the investigation of Paul Manafort to Russian government officials and not agents thereof? Why was it only the Russia collusion and not say, the Israeli or Chinese activity?
Why did Rosenstein want to pursue whether George Papadopoulos was an agent of Israel when he was working for the CIA?
Why did Rosenstein start investigating Hunter Biden when he was at USAO-Maryland and the local Field Office had jurisdiction over Delaware?
Why did Rosenstein hunt down all the confidential informants embedded within the Trump campaign?
Rosenstein gave a 2006 speech before other Federalist Society members and received a lifetime award.
Here’s the Harvard Law Record write up:
…Rosenstein returned to a theme that he had highlighted throughout his talk; the importance of intellectual debate and the folly of censoring that debate with political correctness. He stressed that robust discussions about the law and the Constitution are essential in our system of government because, ultimately, good law derives from the character of those creating and enforcing it and the wrong character will lead in the end to the wrong law.
Does Rosenstein think he exhibited great character? What debates were being censored by political correctness?
As much as I enjoy reading about your fascinating “thoughts and adventures” I hope they morph into a book. All administrations and institutions have particularly interesting periods, but a book about what happened behind the curtain during the post World War II period of America would be a real page turner. The Roman Republic was on life support before Cesar crossed the Rubicon, but Shakespeare made the story a compelling read.