Missouri US Representatives, Hawley Push Probes, Bills Targeting Meatpacking Industry

There are more than 95,000 farms in Missouri with the Show Me State placing among the nation’s top 10 in terms of beef, chicken and pork production, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

But consolidation within the meatpacking industry – four firms (JBS, Tyson, Cargill, National Beef) control more than 80% of all the beef slaughtered in the United States – has long frustrated Missouri producers.

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Rep. Nunes Expects John Durham to Deliver Damaging Report: ‘People Are Going to Jail’

Devin Nunes John Durham

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) said he still expects Justice Department Special Counsel John Durham to release a damaging report on the FBI’s corrupt Russia investigation, and while it “may not be as broad as we want it to be,” it will lead to prison sentences for some former senior Obama officials.

Nunes, the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, told reporter Sara Carter during her podcast Thursday that he still believes justice will be served. According to Carter, the congressman said that Durham’s report could come “as early as next week.”

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Intel Chief Urges John Durham to Release Interim Report in Order to Protect Investigation

John Ratcliffe, the Director of National Intelligence, urged U.S. Attorney John Durham on Sunday to release an interim report on his investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia probe, saying that the American public should have record of the investigation in case the Biden administration shuts it down.

“I think the American people should know what’s happening in a two-year investigation into this and I hope that that report will be forthcoming,” Ratcliffe said in an interview on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”

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U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks Asks Attorney General William Barr to Join Georgia Investigation of Attempts to Register Illegal Voters

U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL-05) on Friday said that he, along with 20 conservative House members and four House members-elect sent a letter to Attorney General William Barr asking that he join Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s investigation into organizations’ attempts to register illegal and invalid voters in Georgia.

The letter strongly urges Attorney General Barr to issue a restraining order or temporary injunction under federal law preventing organizations from registering illegal and invalid voters in the upcoming Georgia Senate runoff election.

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Trump Praises Carter Page’s Lawsuit Against FBI and DOJ, Asks ‘Where’s Durham?’

Trump was lamenting that the Justice Department was not investigating allegations of voter fraud in various swing states. He brought up an investigation led by U.S. Attorney John Durham into FBI and CIA intelligence-gathering activities related to the Trump campaign in 2016.

Republicans had high hopes for Durham’s investigation when it started in April 2019, but have recently grown frustrated at a lack of public revelations from the probe.

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Justice Department Distributes Over $458 Million to Combat Violent Crime

The Justice Department’s Office of Justice Programs announced Monday the distribution of over $458 million in grants to combat violent crime, according to a press release.

The funds are being distributed “to support state, local, and tribal law enforcement efforts to fight and prevent violent crime in jurisdictions across the United States,” according to the press release.

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Operation Legend Puts Focus on Violent Crime, Not Politics

At the small apartment where 4-year-old LeGend Taliferro was shot dead in his sleep, the sliding glass door is riddled with bullet holes. Glass is still strewn on the patio outside, the shards crunching under the feet of Attorney General William Barr and Police Chief Rick Smith as they visit the crime scene.

After the Kansas City boy was killed in June by a gunshot meant for somebody else, the Trump administration launched a nationwide crackdown on violent crime named in his honor. The Associated Press obtained access to briefings and law enforcement operations for an inside look at Operation Legend as Barr visited law enforcement officials in Detroit, Kansas City and Cleveland.

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Commentary: Attorney General Barr’s Intelligence Review Should Include the DNC Servers

by Robert Romano   The Hill’s John Solomon made big news on June 6 when he reported that Ukrainian businessman Konstantin Kilimnik, said in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report to be a Russian agent, was an intelligence source for the U.S. State Department. “In a key finding of the Mueller report, Ukrainian businessman Konstantin Kilimnik, who worked for Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, is tied to Russian intelligence… What it doesn’t state is that Kilimnik was a ‘sensitive’ intelligence source for State going back to at least 2013 while he was still working for Manafort, according to FBI and State Department memos I reviewed.” This is as startling revelation as any that has been discovered, since it calls into question whether somebody purported to be a Russian intelligence officer by the Justice Department really was. It also calls into question other contacts Trump campaign officials were said to have had with supposed Russian agents, and other actions said to have been perpetrated by supposed Russian agents. Kilimnik was practically the entre basis for saying that Paul Manafort had at least been in touch with somebody connected with Russian intelligence. The Mueller report stated, “[O]n August 2, 2016, Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort met…

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Commentary: Which One of the Spygate Rats Will Flip First?

by CHQ Staff   The news that Attorney General William Barr has tasked Connecticut U.S. attorney John Durham to “examine the origins of the Russia investigation and determine if intelligence collection involving the Trump campaign was ‘lawful and appropriate.’” According to reporting by Dan Bongino’s team, Durham has previously investigated corruption in law enforcement and the destruction of CIA videos. Perhaps Durham’s most notable case was his unraveling of the FBI corruption and cover-up involving mobster Whitey Bulger and the Boston FBI field office while Robert Mueller was FBI Director. As Stephen Z. Nemo reported for Communities Digital News, Bulger, notorious head of Boston’s Winter Hill Gang, was allegedly a confidential informant for the FBI. But it turned out Boston-based Special Agent John Connolly Jr. was the one working for Bulger, not the other way around. He and fellow FBI Special Agent John Morris, we now know, were hit men for Bulger’s gang, and Morris even once served as director of the FBI’s training facility at Quantico, VA. Today, the guy Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Stanford Blake said had “crossed over to the dark side,” Connolly sits in a 10’ x 11’ prison cell in a Florida maximum-security facility, convicted…

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One America News Network’s Neil McCabe Joins The Tennessee Star Report to Talk About the Consequences of the Mueller Report

  On Tuesday’s Tennessee Star Report with Steve Gill and Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – Gill and Leahy talked to One America News Network’s Neil McCabe about how the tide is about to turn on the Democrats as the Mueller Report conveniently leaves out incriminating information begging for investigations. Towards the middle of the show, McCabe advised that Attorney General William Barr is appointing a US attorney to look into the origins of the FBI probe. Gill: A guy that keeps his eyes on the stories here in and nationally is Neil McCabe with One America News Network. You can find it I know on DirectTV because I’ve got it on mine. If you don’t have it on yours, demand that they add it to your cable network. Or just call Neil and he’ll tell you whatever story it is. We’ll give you his cell number. Is that ok Neil? We’ll just give people your cell number and they just call you directly and get the news. McCabe: Yeah, whatever. (Gill chuckles) Call just to say whatever’s on their mind or talk about whatever’s gong on. Gill: Then…

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Attorney General Barr Appoints John Durham to Look at Origins of Russia Probe

  Attorney General William Barr has appointed long time U.S. attorney John Durham to examine the origins of the Russia investigation and determine if intelligence collection involving the Trump campaign was “lawful and appropriate,” a person familiar with the issue told The Associated Press on Monday. Durham’s appointment comes about a month after Barr told members of Congress he believed “spying did occur” on the Trump campaign in 2016. He later said he didn’t mean anything pejorative and was gathering a team to look into the origins of the special counsel’s investigation. Barr provided no details about what “spying” may have taken place but appeared to be alluding to a surveillance warrant the FBI obtained on a former Trump associate, Carter Page, and the FBI’s use of an informant while the bureau was investigating former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos. Trump and his supporters have seized on both to accuse the Justice Department and the FBI of unlawfully spying on his campaign. The inquiry, which will focus on whether the government’s methods to collect intelligence relating to the Trump campaign were lawful and appropriate, is separate from an investigation by the Justice Department’s inspector general. The agency’s watchdog…

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Analysis: The Steele Dossier and the ‘Raw Intelligence’ Canard

by Chuck Ross   Defenders of the FBI’s activities during the 2016 campaign have adopted a familiar refrain over the past 28 months to describe the Steele dossier, that infamous document that served as a road map for the conspiracy theory that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government. “It’s raw intelligence,” according to countless politicos and pundits, including CNN contributor Asha Rangappa, Democratic Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, former CIA executive John Sipher and numerous other commentators. The spy term, which describes information directly from a source that has not been fully analyzed, is intended to downplay the dossier’s significance to the collusion narrative. Christopher Steele, the dossier author, gathered his intelligence from a trusted network of sources, the argument goes, and provided it to seasoned investigators to analyze. But the charitable defense faces new challenges, especially in the wake of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia report. The problem with the “raw intelligence” canard is that it ignores questions about how Steele obtained his information and what the former spy did with it once he received it. The FBI also treated Steele’s allegations as more than mere raw intelligence. The bureau relied heavily on Steele’s work, even though it was unverified, to obtain spy…

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Cohen Says Barr ‘Deserves No Respect’ While Using Chicken Statue, KFC Chicken Bucket to Mock Attorney General For Not Attending House Judiciary Committee Hearing

  U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN-09) his upped the ante with his rhetoric by mocking Attorney General William Barr, whom he called a “chicken” — and the Democrat held up a chicken statue and ate fried chicken for effect. Breitbart reported on the tirade at a press conference by the Memphis congressman. The remarks came after Barr said he would not attend a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report showing there was no collusion with Russia or obstruction of justice. #ChickenBarr won’t be appearing before @HouseJudiciary tomorrow. The Attorney General shouldn’t be afraid of taking questions from counsel or members. Contemptible behavior. Fortunately, we have subpoenas ready. pic.twitter.com/a4QecbqcHN — Steve Cohen (@RepCohen) May 1, 2019 The Commercial Appeal reported that Cohen brought the chicken statue and a KFC bucket to the hearing. Barr reportedly refused to attend the hearing because House Democrats demanded that staff attorneys, in addition to lawmakers, be allowed to question Barr over his summary of the Mueller report — a condition that Barr refused to comply with. Before the morning hearing started, however, Cohen ate the chicken in his KFC bucket, Fortune reported. Regarding his analogy, Cohen said in a press release, “The…

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Attorney General Barr Tells Sen. Blackburn Mueller Team Investigated Trump ‘Exhaustively’ and Did Not Find Any Evidence of Collusion or Obstruction

U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) questioned Attorney General William Barr on Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday. Barr said the investigation was thorough and the allegations against President Donald Trump were proven false. Barr appeared before the committee to discuss Mueller’s report that showed Trump did not collude with the Russians in the 2016 elections or obstruct justice. Transcripts from Blackburn’s and Barr’s exchanges follow. Regarding the politicization of law enforcement agencies:  Blackburn: What seems to have happened at the FBI is that there is a seedy, cynical, political culture within a group that developed, and these individuals, collectively, seemed to think that they could work within the power of their jobs and their roles with the federal government. There was an elitism and an arrogance there and it speaks to a very unhealthy work culture. The video clip is available here.   The Special Counsel team’s investigation and findings: Blackburn: Are they meticulous investigators who will hunt down every witness and every piece of evidence? Barr: I think they are tenacious investigators. Blackburn: Are they devoted to finding the truth? Barr: Yes. Blackburn: Are they masters at taking down hardened criminals foreign…

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Long-Awaited Resignation of Deputy AG Rosenstein Finalized, May 11 Last Day

Reuters   U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Special Counsel Robert Mueller in May 2017 to investigate links between the Russian government and President Donald Trump’s campaign, said on Monday he was resigning from his post. Rosenstein’s departure, effective May 11, was not a surprise. He had been expected to step down in March. The White House had no immediate comment, but noted that Trump had already nominated Deputy Transportation Secretary Jeffrey Rosen to replace him. Rosenstein ended up staying on the job longer to help Attorney General William Barr manage the public release of Mueller’s findings from his 22-month investigation, which was completed on March 22. In a letter to Trump, Rosenstein echoed two of Trump’s signature phrases, writing that he helped staff the department with officials “devoted to the values that make America great “and adding that we always put America first.” Mueller’s investigation did not establish evidence that Trump’s campaign illegally conspired with Moscow. Mueller, in his final report, did not make a determination on whether Trump obstructed justice, but instead presented evidence on both sides. After receiving the final report, Rosenstein and Barr made their own determination, finding there was insufficient evidence to charge…

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Attorney General Barr Threatens to Skip House Judiciary Hearing Over Disagreement with Democrats

by Chuck Ross   Attorney General William Barr may cancel his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday over disagreements with Democrats over the proposed format for the highly anticipated hearing. According to CNN, Democrats, led by New York Rep. Jerry Nadler, proposed allowing committee staffers to ask Barr questions during a second round of questioning at Thursday’s hearing. Nadler also wants to be able to question Barr in a closed session about the redacted parts of the Mueller report. But Barr reportedly opposes that format, saying that he should only face questioning from members of Congress in a public congressional hearing. Staffers typically do not ask questions of witnesses during public hearings. Barr is scheduled to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. Both hearings are expected to focus on the special counsel’s Russia report. The standoff will escalate tensions between Nadler and Barr. The Democrat has been heavily critical of Barr’s handling of the rollout of the special counsel’s report, which said that investigators found no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian government. Nadler threatened to subpoena Barr if he skips the hearing. “The witness is not going to tell the committee how to conduct its…

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Trump Attorney General Barr Cracks Down on Phony Asylum Seekers

by CHQ staff   Attorney General William Barr has ruled that some illegal aliens who are about to be deported must be held without bond as their deportation cases play out. According to a Department of Justice decision document released on Tuesday, Barr concluded that illegals who fit certain criteria after applying for asylum will not be eligible for release during the deportation process. The decision reverses a George W. Bush-era ruling dating back to 2005 that allowed bond to be instituted if the deportation subjects could demonstrate a legitimate fear of either persecution or danger should they leave the United States. “An alien who is transferred from expedited removal proceedings to full removal proceedings after establishing a credible fear of persecution or torture is ineligible for release on bond,” Barr wrote. “Such an alien must be detained until his removal proceedings conclude, unless he is granted parole.” “I order that, unless DHS paroles the respondent under section 212(d)(5)(A) of the [The Immigration and Nationality] Act, he must be detained until his removal proceedings conclude,” Barr wrote. Attorney General Barr’s decision has attracted broad support, even from more moderate Republicans, such as New York’s Representative Peter King (NY-2). Attorney General William Barr…

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Feds Bust 60 For Alleged Participation in Illegal Prescribing and Distributing of Opioids, Other Narcotics, As Well As Alleged Health Care Fraud

The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday announced a major multi-agency national bust against 60 people for their alleged participation in the illegal prescribing and distributing of opioids and other dangerous narcotics and for health care fraud schemes. The DOJ announcement is available here. The defendants are from 11 federal districts and include 31 doctors, seven pharmacists, eight nurse practitioners, and seven other licensed medical professionals, including Ohio. “The opioid epidemic is the deadliest drug crisis in American history, and Appalachia has suffered the consequences more than perhaps any other region,” Attorney General William P. Barr said. “But the Department of Justice is doing its part to help end this crisis. One of the Department’s most promising new initiatives is the Criminal Division’s Appalachian Regional Prescription Opioid Strike Force, which began its work in December. Just four months later, this team of federal agents and 14 prosecutors has charged 60 defendants for alleged crimes related to millions of prescription opioids. I am grateful to the Criminal Division, their U.S. Attorney partners, and to the members of the strike force for this outstanding work that holds the promise of saving many lives in Appalachian communities.” In the Appalachian Regional Prescription Opioid Strike Force’s Southern District…

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Grassley: Mueller Team Mischaracterized Trump Campaign Emails in Court Filing

by Chuck Ross   The special counsel’s office fed “speculation and innuendo” about possible collusion with Russia by withholding key details from emails cited in a court filing in the case of former Trump adviser George Papadopoulos, a top Republican senator alleged in a newly released letter. “The public deserves to have the full context for the information the Special Counsel chooses to release. The glaring lack of it feeds speculation and innuendo that distorts the facts,” Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley wrote to special counsel Robert Mueller on Oct. 16, 2017. Grassley, who then chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee, was responding to a “statement of offense” released in the case against Papadopoulos, the Trump campaign adviser who entered a plea deal in the special counsel’s probe on Oct. 5, 2017. Prosecutors quoted from several emails in a way that suggested top Trump campaign officials were eager to meet with Russians. But Grassley asserted that the full emails showed that campaign officials rebuffed the idea of meeting with Russians. The Iowa Republican took Mueller’s team to task for failing to correct news reports that cited the Papadopoulos court filings as evidence of possible collusion with Russia. “It should be the goal…

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Rep. Green Calls for House Intel Committee Chairman Schiff to Step Down Since He Is a ‘Conspiracy Theorist’

U.S. Rep. Dr. Mark Green (R-TN-07) called out a leading Democrat as a “conspiracy theorist” over Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report. Green called for the resignation U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA-28) as chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Green made his remarks on “America’s Newsroom: on Fox News on Tuesday. The video is available here. (Green addresses the question around the 2:15 minute mark.) “We have no evidence of collusion [between Trump and Moscow to throw the 2016 election]. In fact, the only collusion has been between the liberal media and the DNC to throw the 2020 election.” … “We don’t need a conspiracy theorist running our House Intel Committee.” Green’s statement was made in light of Schiff questioning implying the Russians offered intel on Hillary Clinton and President Donald Trump’s son showing interest, according to Fox News. Schiff last week said his committee might subpoena Mueller to get a fuller understanding about the details of his report. “If necessary, we will call Bob Mueller or others before our committee,” Schiff told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, noting also that the Judiciary Committee might summon Attorney General Bill Barr to answer questions as well. The California Democrat’s comments came…

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Sen. Blackburn Commends Attorney General Barr For Quickly Releasing Summary of Mueller Findings That Clear President Trump of Collusion With Russia

U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) praised Attorney General William Barr for quickly releasing the summary of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s findings to Congress that show President Donald Trump did not collude with Russia. Mueller’s investigation found no evidence President Donald Trump, his campaign or associates conspired or coordinated with Russia to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, according to a summary released Sunday by Attorney General William Barr, The Tennessee Star reported. Blackburn tweeted her statement. My statement on today’s letter from Attorney General Barr: pic.twitter.com/1xpZQDtWdZ — Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) March 25, 2019 Blackburn’s statement reads: “After two years of thorough investigation, led by a team of 19 lawyers and 40 FBI employees, costing over $25 million in taxpayer dollars, Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s conclusions confirm that President Trump’s campaign did not collude with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election. “Attorney General Bill Barr, in a jointly reached conclusion with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, determined the evidence from the Special Counsel report was ‘not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense.’ “Attorney General Barr is to be commended for his quick release of the findings to Congress as well as his commitment to continue reviewing…

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Attorney General Barr Sends Mueller’s Conclusions to Congress: No Collusion Found

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation found no evidence President Donald Trump, his campaign or associates conspired or coordinated with Russia to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, according to a summary released Sunday by Attorney General William Barr. “While this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him,” Mueller wrote, according to Barr. Barr handed over to Congress his main conclusions and summary of the long-awaited Muller report. Mueller spent 22 months looking into whether Trump’s campaign colluded with the Russians and if the president obstructed justice by trying to stop the investigation. Barr and his aides spent hours Saturday poring over the report Mueller handed them late Friday. Key lawmakers, opposition Democrats and some of Trump’s Republican allies, have all called for release of the full report, but it is not clear whether Barr will do so. Trump said last week he did not object to the full release to the public but also has said it is up to Barr, whom he appointed as the country’s top law enforcement official, to decide how much of it is disclosed. White House aides say Trump has not been briefed on the outcome…

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Rep. Cohen Spouts Conspiracy Theories on CNN, Saying President Trump is Using Attorney General Barr to Abruptly End Mueller Investigation

Congressional Democrats are threatening to subpoena the report to be issued by special counsel Robert Mueller, and U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN-09) is spouting off conspiracy theories about the new attorney general as well. The threat comes with reports that the special counsel may issue the report on so-called Russian interference in the 2016 elections next week, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said on CNN’s “New Day,” which the network posted on Twitter. AG William Barr “has to make a decision — is he going to be the people’s lawyer or is he going to be the President’s lawyer?” @SenBlumenthal says as sources tell CNN that the Justice Department is preparing for Mueller report as early as next week. https://t.co/o1rWjoIe29 pic.twitter.com/ZR9AXMOTqa — New Day (@NewDay) February 21, 2019 Attorney General William Barr was reticent recently about whether he would allow Mueller to testify before Congress, and whether he would resist a subpoena if it were issued for the report, Roll Call said. Meanwhile, Cohen, who is well known for providing colorful yet not always-appropriate soundbites, had a few things to say about Barr during an interview on CNN. The video is available here. Cohen, who serves on the House Judiciary Committee,…

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Rod Rosenstein Will Leave the Justice Department in Mid-March

Rod Rosenstein

by Chuck Ross   Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein plans to leave the Justice Department in mid-March, agency officials told news outlets Monday. A Justice Department official said that Rosenstein’s departure is not related to a controversy surrounding his alleged offer to wear a wire during conversations with President Donald Trump, according to CNN. Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe claimed in an interview that aired Sunday that Rosenstein broached the idea of wearing a wire to the White House in May 2017, days after James Comey was fired as FBI director. McCabe also claimed that Rosenstein suggested using the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office. Rosenstein has disputed McCabe’s claims, saying that he was being sarcastic about wearing a wire. Rosenstein was reportedly planning to leave the Justice Department soon after William Barr’s confirmation as attorney general. Barr was confirmed by the Senate on Feb. 14. Rosenstein planned to remain in office to ensure a smooth transition from Matthew Whitaker, the former acting attorney general, to Barr. According to CNN, the Justice Department could announce a replacement for Rosenstein as soon as this week. Rosenstein appointed Robert Mueller special counsel on May 17, 2017, around a week after Comey’s firing. He oversaw the…

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