Will Rosenstein recuse himself from overseeing special counsel probe? Not at this point, DOJ says

Rod Rosenstein

Will Rosenstein recuse himself from overseeing special counsel probe? Not at this point, DOJ says
American Bar Association (ABA)
By Debra Cassens Weiss
Posted Jun 16, 2017 02:47 pm CDT

The U.S. Justice Department says Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has no immediate plans to recuse himself from overseeing the special counsel’s investigation into Russian influence, though he reportedly told colleagues he may need to take that step.

Anonymous sources tell ABC News and the Washington Post that Rosenstein has acknowledged in private conversations that he may have to step away from supervising the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller. ABC was the first to report the news.

But Justice Department spokesman Ian Prior issued a statement on Friday saying Rosenstein remains in a supervisory role, at this point. "As the deputy attorney general has said numerous times, if there comes a point when he needs to recuse, he will," Prior said. "However, nothing has changed."

Rosenstein could be a witness in the investigation he is overseeing if Mueller has expanded his probe of Russian influence to investigate whether Trump obstructed justice by firing FBI director James Comey. Mueller may want to learn about Trump’s conversations with Rosenstein, the Justice Department official who wrote the memo criticizing Comey’s performance before his firing on May 9.

Trump appeared to confirm he was being investigated for obstruction in a tweet on Friday that read: "I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director! Witch Hunt."

Harvard law professor Noah Feldman argues in a Bloomberg View article that Trump’s tweet could force Rosenstein’s recusal because of his suggestion that Comey’s firing was Rosenstein’s idea. That would leave supervision of the Mueller probe to Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand, a a Harvard law graduate who clerked for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy and ran the Office of Legal Policy at the Justice Department.

Brand is "a horse of a different color from career prosecutors such as Rosenstein, Comey and Mueller," Feldman says. He speculates that her attitude may be "more informed by the structure of presidential authority and less by unwritten norms of prosecutorial independence."

According to the ABC report, Rosenstein discussed his potential recusal with Brand and told her she would have to take over his role if he did so. Read more

Pence hires BigLaw lawyer in Russia probe with personal Comey connection

Pence hires BigLaw lawyer in Russia probe with personal Comey connection
American Bar Association (ABA)
By Debra Cassens Weiss
Posted Jun 16, 2017 08:37 am CDT

Vice President Mike Pence has hired McGuireWoods chairman Richard Cullen to represent him in the congressional and special counsel’s investigations into Russian influence.

Cullen has connections to fired FBI director James Comey, a lawyer who once worked at McGuireWoods, report the New York Times, the Am Law Daily (sub. req.) and the Washington Post in stories here and here.

The relationship is personal: Cullen is godfather to one of Comey’s daughters, according to the Post. And they both worked at one time in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Richmond, Virginia, though not at the same time. Cullen was U.S. attorney for the office from 1991 to 1993, before Comey joined the office in 1996.

Cullen also has prosecution experience on the state level, serving as Virginia attorney general from 1997 to 1998.

Cullen began his career as a staffer for a Republican member of the House Judiciary Committee who voted to impeach Richard Nixon in the Watergate scandal. Later, he was special counsel to a Republican senator investigating the Iran-Contra arms-for-hostages sales.

The Times says Pence is probably a peripheral figure in the Russia investigation who could be questioned as a witness. Read more