Attorney Chuck Rosenberg is about as straight a shooter as they come in the legal world. He’s now hosting a podcast called The Oath for NBC News, but before that he held several senior positions with the Department of Justice, including stints in the DOJ’s criminal tax division, as assistant U.S. attorney, counsel to the director of FBI, counsel to the attorney general, chief of staff to the deputy attorney general, and acting director of the DEA. In short, he knows what he’s talking about when it comes to how the DOJ and its senior officials operate.
Rosenberg appeared on MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show to discuss The Washington Post’s bombshell reporting that Robert Mueller sent a letter to Attorney General Bill Barr after the release of Barr’s four-page summary of the Mueller report. Mueller and his team were reportedly upset that Barr’s characterization “did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance” of the investigation and its conclusions.
Rosenberg explained how extraordinarily rare it is for a senior DOJ official such as Robert Mueller to put his objections in writing to the attorney general. He said that inside the DOJ they call it “going to paper,” and that it is something that is never done lightly. Take a listen as Rosenberg explains just how big a deal this letter really is in historical context.
Attorney General Bill Barr is scheduled to testify to House and Senate committees Wednesday and Thursday. Buckle up.