One-Time #Resistance Hero Rod Rosenstein Was Trump’s Leak-Hunter-in-Chief
Rod Rosenstein was a #Resistance hero—and one of Donald Trump’s favorite whipping boys—for overseeing the Russia investigation. But Rosenstein’s legacy at the Justice Department shows he was more than happy to oblige the White House on one of its top priorities: spearheading the president's war on leakers and whistleblowers.
Cases involving the leak of classified information are high profile prosecutions that would be part of the purview of any deputy attorney general. But former Justice Department officials tell The Daily Beast that Rosenstein was deeply involved in bringing the cases as a result of both pressure from the White House and a personal view of the importance of prosecuting unauthorized disclosures.
“There was no mistaking the fact that the White House was pressing the department to crack down harder on leaks and as a result we found ourselves meeting regularly with Rod to discuss our leaks docket: where we were in the given case, what the challenges were, what our next steps were,” David Laufman, a partner at Wiggin and Dana who served as head of the FBI’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, told The Daily Beast. “Suffice it to say they were more frequent than once a month, maybe not as frequent as once a week.”
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