RUSH: We had a caller, it was early earlier this week or late last week who said, “Rush, did you notice that Rosenstein was standing behind Bill Barr when Barr said that the Mueller report found no collusion and no obstruction?” I said, “Yeah, I saw Rosenstein.”
\Well, I think, I think Barr has kept Rosenstein on, ’cause I think the caller’s right, I think Rosenstein is unloading on all these people. Rosenstein knows what Strzok, Smirk and Page did and McCabe. He knows what all these FBI shills did. He knows what everybody was doing to try to run this coup, and I’ll bet you he’s unloading. I’ll bet Barr has given him all kinds of grace periods and exonerations and promises that nothing will happen to him if he just hangs around and unloads.
And I said to the caller, “Well, I hadn’t thought of that, but you may be right.” Well, guess what? Rosenstein went out and made a speech at the Armenian Bar Association. And he, in his speech, admitted to this bunch of members at the Armenian Bar Association that the, quote, “previous administration didn’t tell us the whole truth.”
And then he said, “Don’t get me started on Comey.” We have a couple of audio sound bites, number 17 and 18. Last night, the Armenian Bar Association’s Public Servants Dinner — this is the Armenian Bar Association annual dinner for waiters and bartenders and the servants who serve — I’m kidding. It’s not that. Public servants are, you know, government workers. At any rate, here are two sound bites from Rosenstein. I’m gonna have to add to these bites, but here’s the first of the two.
ROSENSTEIN: Some critical decisions about that Russia investigation were made before I got there. The previous administration chose not to publicize the full story about Russian computer hackers and social media trolls and how they relate to Russia’s broader strategy to undermine America.
RUSH: Our caller may have a point here! Here’s Rosenstein, so many people thought Rosenstein was in on this coup, but here he is unloading on Obama and all of these FBI types of and the intelligence people in the Obama administration. “Some critical decisions about the Russia investigation were made before I got there.”
Remember, Trump appointed him. “The previous administration –” that would be Obama “– chose not to publicize the full story about Russian computer hackers and social media trolls and how they relate to Russia’s broader strategy to undermine America.”
Need I translate this? He’s suggesting the Obama administration knew full well what the Russians were doing and didn’t do anything to stop it. In the next bite here he is defending the attorney general, William Barr.
ROSENSTEIN: I did not promise to report all results to the public because as my fellow U.S. attorneys would know well, grand jury investigations are ex parte proceedings. It’s not our job to render conclusive factual findings. We just decide whether it’s appropriate to file criminal charges.
RUSH: So the story accompanying this is in The Politico: “Rosenstein Defends Russia Investigation, Takes Shots at Obama Administration.” And let me read to you a couple of more excerpts from Rosenstein’s speech to the Armenian Bar Association’s Public Servants Dinner.
“At my confirmation hearing in March 2017, a Republican Senator asked me to make a commitment. He said: ‘You’re going to be in charge of this [Russia] investigation. I want you to look me in the eye and tell me that you’ll do it right, that you’ll take it to its conclusion and you’ll report [your results] to the American people.’
“I did pledge to do it right and take it to the appropriate conclusion. I did not promise to report all results to the public, because grand jury investigations are ex parte proceedings. It is not our job to render conclusive factual findings. We just decide whether it is appropriate to file criminal charges.
“Some critical decisions about the Russia investigation were made before I got there. The previous Administration chose not to publicize the full story about Russian computer hackers and social media trolls, and how they relate to a broader strategy to undermine America.
“The FBI disclosed classified evidence about the investigation to ranking legislators and their staffers. Someone selectively leaked details to the news media. The FBI Director announced at a congressional hearing that there was a counterintelligence investigation that might result in criminal charges. Then the former FBI Director alleged that the President pressured him to close the investigation, and the President denied that the conversation occurred. So that happened.”
He’s talking about Comey there! There is no mistaking his meaning here. He only mentioned Trump, by the way, in this speech by name one time, and it was a positive reference to a Trump quote about the rule of law.
So our caller may have a point. Rosenstein may actually be on the side of the angels here. He also had some things to say about the Drive-Bys in his speech to the Armenian Bar Association’s Public Servants Dinner.
He said, “Then there are the mercenary critics, who get paid to express passionate opinions about any topic, often with little or no information. They do not just express disagreement. They launch ad hominem attacks unrestricted by truth or morality. They make threats, spread fake stories, and even attack your relatives. I saw one of the professional provocateurs at a holiday party.” One of these media people. “He said, ‘I’m sorry that I’m making your life miserable.’ And I said, ‘You do your job, and I’ll do mine.’
“In our Department, we disregard the mercenary critics,” i.e. the media, “and focus on the things that matter. ‘Things that matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter least.’ A republic that endures is not governed by the news cycle,” or the anchor chair on the Don Lemon show. I added that. He didn’t actually say that.
“Some of the nonsense that passes for breaking news today would not be worth the paper it was printed on, if anybody bothered to print it. It quickly fades away. The principles are what abide.”
You know what this reminds me of? It reminds me of Reince Priebus. Came on this program to talk about it shortly after the Trump administration was sworn in. Priebus is walking the halls of the West Wing and McCabe came up and said to Priebus, “By the way, we know all this garbage in the media is BS. Don’t worry. We know all this stuff about Russia collusion, we know it’s all BS.”
And Priebus said, “A lot of good that’s doing me. Can’t you go on television and tell somebody that you know all this is BS?”
“That’s not what we do, no, no, no, we can’t do that.”
I asked Priebus, “Why did he tell you?”
“I don’t know.”
I think it was part of the setup as well.