Thank you for making clear it’s not personal, Mr Jordan
Wow. This is astonishing. These are Republicans, grilling a Republican Deputy Attorney General in a Republican administration, accusing him of lying under oath. It’s not “partisanship” as normally understood, it’s something even sicker – it’s deranged and pernicious loyalty to one monstrous human being whose only real party is himself.
Watch Rod Rosenstein dunk on Jim Jordan in this AM's hearing. It's beautiful.
JORDAN: "Did you threaten subpoena their calls and emails?"
ROSENSTEIN: "No sir, and there's no way to subpoena phone calls." pic.twitter.com/gOnrS2E0HJ— Caroline O. (@RVAwonk) June 28, 2018
Rosenstein keeps his cool but he’s obviously not impressed.
Jordan: “I asked if you said it.”
Rosenstein: “Said what?”
J: “What I just read you.”
R: “No I did not.”
J: “Well now who are we supposed to believe, staff members who we’ve worked with, who’ve never misled us, or you guys, who we’ve caught hiding information from us, who tell a witness not to answer our questions, who we supposed to believe?”
R: “Thank you for making clear it’s not personal, Mr Jordan.”
Jordan starts to bluster-answer while Rosenstein says, sharply, “You should believe me because I’m telling the truth and I’m under oath.” Jordan comes back with, “I know these staff members.”
They’re both Republicans.
Maybe the difference is simply that Jordan is elected while Rosenstein is appointed, so that Jordan is playing to what he takes to be the mentality of people who voted for him. Or maybe it’s simply loyalty to Trump versus loyalty to the laws, the Constitution, the justice system, the Department of Justice.
At any rate, it’s astonishing.
It’s also what America needs – the relatively pricipled members of the Republican party to put their foot down and halt the Trump bootlickers.
If so, they are in violation of their oath of office, which is to the Constitution and the country, not to the President.
Indeed they are.