Senate panel meets with special counsel in Russia probe

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller last month, testified Tuesday he has seen no evidence of good cause to fire Mueller.

Also Wednesday, Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles Grassley said his panel will investigate the removal of former FBI Director James Comey and “any alleged improper partisan interference in law enforcement investigations.”

Grassley announced the investigation in a letter to California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the panel’s top Democrat. Grassley’s office said the letter is in response to a recent letter from Feinstein requesting that the committee seek details from senior FBI leadership about Comey’s interactions with President Donald Trump before he was fired.

The letter said the investigation will also probe Comey’s testimony that Loretta Lynch, as President Barack Obama’s attorney general, had directed him to describe an FBI probe into Hillary Clinton’s email practices as merely a “matter” and to avoid calling it an investigation.

“You and I agree that the American people deserve a full accounting of attempts to meddle in both our democratic processes and the impartial administration of justice … It is my view that fully investigating the facts, circumstances, and rationale for Mr. Comey’s removal will provide us the opportunity to do that on a co-operative, bipartisan basis.”

Feinstein has said the Judiciary Committee should investigate, but had asked Grassley to keep the investigations separate. Grassley said Comey’s dismissal and Comey’s testimony on Lynch should be looked at together, noting that Comey “took the opportunity in his testimony to clear his own name by denouncing as false the administration’s claims that the FBI rank-and-file had lost confidence in Mr. Comey’s leadership in the wake of the Clinton email investigation.”

Jake Pearson And Mary Clare Jalonick, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Senate panel meets with special counsel in Russia probe

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