Since election day, the Trump administration has been hit with an unprecedented number of intelligence leaks as classified information seems to be flowing quite freely from Obama holdovers occupying various government agencies and members of the intelligence community directly to various mainstream media outlets. At this point, one has to wonder why the Washington Post and the New York Times shouldn't just have an office setup inside the NSA with server access and the highest security clearance...taxpayers might actually some money if we didn't have to pay for our spies to sneak around Washington passing info to journalists.
But, some hope was offered last week by AG Jeff Sessions and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats who, after months of doing basically nothing, finally announced a plan to crackdown on leakers. Meanwhile, Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein took to the Sunday talk show circuit this past weekend for some more 'tough talk' saying the DOJ will prosecute any "case that warrants prosecution no matter what their position is."
“We're after the leakers. We’re not after
journalists we’re after people who are committing crimes. We're going to devote the resources we need to identify who is responsible for those leaks and who has violated the law and hold them accountable."
"If we identify anybody, no matter what their position is, if they violated the law and that case warrants prosecution, we'll prosecute it."
But former House Oversight Committee Chair, and now Fox News political analyst, Jason Chaffetz is calling the bluff of the suddenly eager Deputy Attorney General saying that he "comes with absolutely zero credibility on this" issue after repeatedly refusing to investigate, much less prosecute, Hillary Clinton for lying under oath and/or her litany of other federal crimes.
"[Rod Rosenstein] comes with absolutely zero credibility on this."
"Remember last year when we had Director Comey come before the Oversight Committee, I was the Chair, I asked him if he looked at Hillary Clinton, whether or not she told the truth under oath. He said he needed a request from Congress so myself and Bob Goodlatte, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, sent that request to the Department of Justice and it's never been answered."
"So, if they want to start, lets start with Hillary Clinton and whether or not she lied under oath. And lets also go back to the State Department who had an open investigation. They reopened it July 7th of 2016. They've never closed it. Nearly 300 people who are dealing in classified information in a nonsecure setting, why didn’t they ever close that investigation? They need to answer those questions. Start with that. They come with zero credibility on this issue."
"There becomes a point where you actually have to answer these things. Don't do another press conference until you have some people in handcuffs. This is classified information. It's against the law to just leak it out and give it to whoever you want."
So what say you on Rosenstein? Dedicated public servant intent upon tracking down and prosecuting leakers or just another political hack who will say whatever is most politically expedient at any given time to maintain his power base? Time will tell.