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Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein defended special counsel Robert S. Mueller III in the face of critical questioning Wednesday from the House Judiciary Committee about whether bias might have infected Mueller’s investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
Rosenstein said that he had not seen good cause to fire Mueller, and that although some members of the special counsel team had political views, that did not necessarily taint their work.
“We recognize we have employees with political opinions. It’s our responsibility to make sure those opinions do not influence their actions,’’ Rosenstein said. “I believe that Director Mueller understands that and he is running his office appropriately.’’
Rosenstein also said he and Mueller talked about what his office was allowed to investigate and what it was not, though he declined to answer directly whether he had granted Mueller permission to expand his mandate.
“It’s a clarification in most cases,” Rosenstein said. Asked later if President Trump — who has in the past expressed concern about the scope of the probe — had ever talked with him about removing Mueller, Rosenstein responded, “I am not going to be discussing my communications with the president, but I can tell you that nobody has communicated to me a desire to remove Robert Mueller.”
Rosenstein’s appearance, which began at 10 a.m., comes the morning after texts between two senior FBI officials that disparaged Trump and expressed fear that he might win were turned over to lawmakers. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) referred to the texts in his opening statement, saying they were “deeply troubling to all citizens who expect a system of blind and equal justice.”
“Department of Justice investigations must not be tainted by individuals imposing their own political prejudices,” Goodlatte said.
[Republicans hammer Mueller, FBI as Russia investigation intensifies]
The officials who exchanged the messages — senior FBI agent Peter Strzok and senior FBI lawyer Lisa Page — once worked for Mueller’s team and were key players in a prior investigation of former secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. Mueller is investigating whether the Trump campaign and the Kremlin coordinated to influence the 2016 election and already has charged or negotiated plea deals with four people, including former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Even before the messages were revealed, some Republicans had accused Mueller’s team of harboring inappropriate bias, pointing to political contributions by several members to Clinton or other Democrats. Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio) read each of the donations to Rosenstein Wednesday, asking how he could “with a straight face” say they were impartial.
The texts offered new ammunition.
One of the earliest messages, from 2015, shows Strzok calling Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.), Clinton’s rival for the Democratic nomination, “an idiot like Trump. Figure they cancel each other out.’’ On March 4, 2016, Page texted, “God, Trump is a loathsome human,’’ to which Strzok replied, “Yet he may win.’’
Democrats, meanwhile, stood up for Mueller, who himself is a registered Republican.
Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) asked Rosenstein to detail why he had chosen Mueller for the job, and after detailing Mueller’s credentials, Rosenstein remarked, “I believe he was an ideal choice for this task.”
As Cohen then launched his own defense of Mueller, declaring “Everybody respects this man in this country,’’ Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.) quickly interjected: “I don’t.’’
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (N.Y.), the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said there was nothing wrong with the officials expressing “private political views via private text messages.” Strzok, in particular, “did not say anything about Donald Trump that the majority of Americans weren’t also thinking at the same time,” he said.
Strzok was removed from Mueller’s team in late July when his bosses found out about the texts. By that time, Page already had left for unrelated reasons, officials have said. Rosenstein said that Mueller had taken appropriate action in taking Strzok off the team.
Republicans also have long complained about the Clinton investigation’s conclusion, when then-FBI Director James B. Comey recommended that she not be charged even as he criticized her and her aides’ use of the private server. Goodlatte said the Strzok-Page texts “prove what we all suspected — high ranking FBI officials involved in the Clinton investigation were personally invested in the outcome of the election and clearly let their strong political opinions cloud their professional judgment.”
Goodlatte has called on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to appoint a second special counsel to investigate that and other Clinton-related matters, and Sessions indicated in a response last month that he had directed senior prosecutors to explore some of the topics and report back to him. Nadler said that request was “grossly misguided.”
The Justice Department Inspector General’s Office has said its investigators are looking into the handling of the Clinton email investigation, and also the texts between Strzok and Page. Rosenstein said he was hopeful the inspector general would conclude his investigation “in the next couple months,” adding, “When we get those results, we’ll take appropriate action.”
Rosenstein has a supervisory role over Mueller, as Sessions has recused himself from the case because of his work on the Trump campaign. His appearance on Capitol Hill is part of the House Judiciary Committee’s normal oversight of the Justice Department.
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The NFC playoff race continues to be the most exciting thing about the 2017 NFL season, and that didn’t change in Week 14. Things got started with a wild Saints-Falcons game on Thursday and things got really shook up when Carson Wentz left the Eagles‘ 43-35 victory over the Rams with what was determined to be a knee injury.
The Eagles are reportedly concerned it might be an ACL injury for Wentz and if that’s the case, it throws the NFC playoff race into a blender on the same day they clinched the NFC East and a playoff spot.
Wentz has been one of the top MVP candidates through 13 weeks of the season and was his typical impressive self against Los Angeles. He was dodging tacklers, making throws into really tight windows and running the ball like a linebacker. And then, when Wentz plunged into the end zone for a touchdown that would be called back, he took a huge shot to the knee and everything changed.
You can argue the Eagles could still make a Super Bowl run with Nick Foles — multiple people have tried to do that since the Wentz injury — and that’s a thing that could happen, but it seems unlikely given the defenses Philadelphia will have to beat in the playoffs to get that far.
So who’s the best team in the NFC now? The Vikings are the highest seed outside of Philadelphia, but they just lost to Carolina (granted the game was close and it was a third straight road game). The Saints have looked a lot less explosive the last few weeks and really need Alvin Kamara out on the field to be as dangerous on offense. The Rams just lost to the Eagles, even though they got a quarter of Nick Foles.
The Panthers have played well, but they’re up and down and got swept by New Orleans. The Falcons are intriguing but they aren’t consistent on offense. The Seahawks are just too beat up. The Cowboys and Packers need a lot of help to get to the playoffs, but they would be scary if they got there.
Maybe the best team in the NFC is still the Eagles? That wouldn’t be my choice, but they are a dangerous team even with Foles thanks to the defensive line and running game.
There’s no easy answer — the move is probably to default to the Vikings, but everything could change next week when Rodgers comes back or if the Saints look dangerous again. The NFC was going to be wild down the stretch no matter what, but the Wentz injury just created a ton of chaos.
Here’s how the rest of the NFL playoff picture looks, as well as a snapshot of some games that could impact what it looks like after Week 11 and beyond.
AFC: Who’s in
The Steelers clinched the AFC North on Sunday night with their victory over the Ravens. It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t easy but it was a win and the Steelers cashed on the over for their season win total while also hurting their rivals shot at making the playoffs. Next up are the Patriots, with homefield on the line.
The Patriots play the Dolphins on Monday night in Miami.
What an effort from the Jaguars at home against the Seahawks, with Jacksonville putting itself in position to try and snare a bye if it can win out. The Jaguars nearly let Seattle back in the game, but ultimately prevailed and looked, once again, incredible on defense.
The Chiefs bounced back from a rough stretch in a huge way, absolutely destroying the Raiders — don’t let the score fool you, they were not close to losing this game at any point. And they should have scored more points, but Alex Smith got victimized by a lot of drops. Kansas City controls its destiny in the AFC West with a matchup against the Chargers next week and probably shot down the Raiders’ chances of making a run.
The Titans were lethargic against the Cardinals, losing an ugly 12-7 game in Arizona that suddenly puts their once guaranteed playoff status straight up in jeopardy. Tennessee’s offense can’t get going and they have a really difficult schedule remaining, not to mention a tightening AFC wild card situation.
6. Buffalo Bills (7-6)
The Bills remain in the playoff hunt despite utilizing Joe Webb and Nathan Peterman in order to beat the Colts 13-7 in a wild snow-filled game on Sunday afternoon.
AFC: Who’s out
7. Baltimore Ravens (7-6): The Ravens stormed back against the Steelers on Sunday night, scoring a pile of unanswered points and somehow let Pittsburgh … steal the game away anyway. The Ravens have to be looking over their shoulder, but with Cleveland, Indy and Cincy left on the docket, they’re probably getting in.
8. Los Angeles Chargers (7-6): Don’t look now but here come the Chargers! L.A. destroyed the Redskins in easy fashion on Sunday, waltzing to a victory that puts them in a two-way tie with the Chiefs for first place in the division with a Saturday night showdown coming up next weekend. L.A. is just a game out of the wild-card race now too.
9. Oakland Raiders (6-7): The Raiders looked like they were just going through the motions against Kansas City. At one point in the third quarter Kareem Hunt had more yards and points scored than the entire Raiders offense.
10. Miami Dolphins (5-7): The Dolphins play the Patriots on Monday night in Miami.
11. New York Jets (5-8): The Jets were absolutely dominated by the Broncos on Sunday afternoon and they lost Josh McCown to injury, forcing Bryce Petty into the game. Still an impressive season for this team.
12. Cincinnati Bengals (5-8): The Bengals laid down like a team that had its heart ripped out the week before against Pittsburgh, which was the case for Cincy. They were down a lot of players to injury and it showed in their low-effort loss to the Bears.
13. Houston Texans (4-9): The Texans had a major issue involving Tom Savage and a concussion on Sunday and now have to answer some questions about their concussion protocol process in addition to their record.
AFC: Who’s Eliminated
14. Denver Broncos (4-9)
15. Indianapolis Colts (3-10)
16. Cleveland Browns (0-13)
NFC: Who’s in
1. (y) Philadelphia Eagles (11-2)
A bittersweet victory for the Eagles, because they clinched a playoff berth and won the NFC East, but they very well may have lost Carson Wentz for the season. Wentz reportedly may have suffered a torn ACL, or at least the Eagles are concerned that he did. Best case scenario for Philly probably involves an MCL injury and a few weeks without Wentz. Either way, they’re going to the postseason but people in Philly are very nervous.
2. Minnesota Vikings (10-3)
The Vikings got banged around by the Panthers defense with some offensive linemen missing, and Case Keenum threw a couple of picks but still didn’t look terrible. Minnesota can very much make a run at the No. 1 seed if Wentz is missing and the Eagles struggle.
3. Los Angeles Rams (9-4)
Brutal loss at home considering the circumstances: The Eagles had to play Nick Foles for a quarter and the Rams were leading for large stretches of this game. They are secretly in danger of missing the playoffs if they only go 1-2 down the stretch and the Cowboys or Packers get hot.
4. New Orleans Saints (9-4)
The Saints are suddenly in a very interesting position, having dropped a game to the Falcons on Thursday night. There’s plenty of games left to be played, but they have a dogfight to win the division.
5. Carolina Panthers (9-4)
The Panthers don’t have a tiebreaker with the Saints, but they do have a tie for the division lead. That’s huge because they might be the first team against Aaron Rodgers if he returns next week and still have to play the Falcons again. They’re in good shape but not out of the woods just yet.
6. Atlanta Falcons (8-5)
Atlanta’s Thursday win was massive — they get a mini-bye late in the season and now close with Tampa, New Orleans and Carolina. They are still in play to win the division.
NFC: Who’s out
7. Seattle Seahawks (8-5): Seattle got to look in the mirror at its doppleganger and it got beat up pretty bad by the Jaguars in Jacksonville. Russell Wilson tried to make something out of this game, but they came up short.
8. Detroit Lions (7-6): The Lions snuck by the Bucs with a banged-up quarterback and kept their playoff hopes alive.
9. Green Bay Packers (7-6): The Packers needed overtime to beat the Browns but managed to pull it off (and cover, sigh). Aaron Rodgers is coming back next week and things are going to get interesting.
10. Dallas Cowboys (7-6): The Cowboys hammered the Giants on Sunday to set themselves up for a possible playoff run if/when Ezekiel Elliott comes back from suspension. They get the Raiders next week and then Zeke returns. It’s very interesting.
11. Arizona Cardinals (6-7): The Cardinals are not going to make the playoffs but they are not eliminated yet, and they keep fighting hard despite playing without their starting running back and featuring a third-string quarterback.
NFC: Who’s Eliminated
12. Washington Redskins (5-8)
13. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-9)
14. Chicago Bears (3-9)
15. New York Giants (2-9)
16. San Francisco 49ers (2-10)
Legend: (x) clinched playoff berth | (y) denotes division winner | (z) denotes first-round bye | (*) clinched home-field advantage
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