The Russia Probe: Never Has an Investigation Been This Thoroughly Discredited

On Friday, The New York Times added what ought to be the final piece of the puzzle that allows President Trump to shut down the Mueller investigation for good.

According to the story, which we understand has been a year in the making, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is said to have suggested secretly recording President Trump, pushed other administration officials to join him in a 25^th Amendment coup, and expressed an overall doubt in the president’s fitness for office. Not only is this reason enough for Trump to throw Rosenstein out on his ass, it officially makes the Russia probe the most thoroughly discredited investigation in federal history. Enough is enough.

The Rosenstein story didn’t just come out of nowhere and it doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It joins the pantheon of disturbing evidence against this investigation. It joins the FBI’s use of the ridiculous dossier – bought and paid for by the Clinton campaign – to secure foreign surveillance warrants against American citizens. It joins the absurd use of George Papadopoulos as a “trigger figure” in the collusion investigation. It joins the treasonous text messages sent between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page. It joins the unethical and politically-charged leaking of Andrew McCabe. It joins the Democrat-stacked Mueller team, the cozy Bruce Ohr/Christopher Steele relationship, and so much else.

Anyone who claims that Mueller and the FBI are running a fair game here is either not paying attention or is hopelessly caught up in the #Resistance.

At the very least, it’s time for Rosenstein to recuse himself, as famed lawyer Alan Dershowitz recommended this weekend.

“What [Trump] could do very plausibly is have his lawyers go to court and make a motion to recuse Rosenstein from any involvement in any case involving the president,” Dershowitz said. “Because he has a conflict of interest. He has two conflicts of interest: First, he wrote the memo authorizing the firing of Comey. You can’t both investigate obstruction of justice and be part of the obstruction of justice.

“But second,” he said, “he has a conflict now because the Times reports that his goal is to be ‘vindicated,’ and the way he can be ‘vindicated’ is by putting all the blame on President Trump.”

If the Democrats, Robert Mueller, and the Department of Justice want the American people to have any trust whatsoever in their findings, they need to demonstrate that they did everything possible to run a fair, thorough investigation. At this point, it’s hard to imagine how they can sell that story. And if Rosenstein remains in charge of this probe, it becomes ludicrous to believe that they can.