preliminary inquiry were to establish no crime had been committed. according to what we have heard, he could not make that decision. do you believe appointing a special counsel the trump special counsel, and strengthens the able to come to different conclusions. you have to differentiate the political consequences and the practical consequences. they re conducting independent investigations. they re going to go evaluate the facts of the law and make a recommendations based on what they find. i don t expect the existence of two special counsels will influence the way they go about their jobs. to the public, it appears and i want to use it, there are two car wrecks, one clearly is ant accident, one appears to be intentional. i think, chuck, we should wait until we know the facts form the key fact with regard to the biden documents, of course, is what did the president know
and trump special counsels are significantly different legally. the special counsel investigating donald trump, is also investigating his role in the riot. for trump specifically, there s perhaps a legal gift as well, by threatening to muddy the waters concerned about his mishandling of classified documents. statements like this one from biden that would criticize trump bag in september do not help biden s cause. how that can possibly happen, how anyone could be that irresponsible, and i thought, what data was in there that may compromise sources and methods? by that, i mean names of people helped, et cetera. it s just totally irresponsible. it s worth noting there s one giant difference. president trump actively defied a subpoena and he lawyer lied on
reason to mess with the appointment process, chuck. the majority of employees of the department are career employees. the leadership is subject to political appointment. i think that s an appropriate way to manage the department. rod rosenstein, we appreciate you coming on and lending your perspective. thank you. joining me is republican senator ron johnson, top republican on the subcommittee on investigations. senator johnson, welcome back to meet the press. hello, chuck. it s been a while. it has. do you approve of merrick garland s decision to appoint a special counsel to look into the joe biden s confidential documents. i m not a real fan of special counsels. i did join 32 of my colleagues
concluded that it is in the public interest to appoint a special counsel. i strongly believe that the normal processes of this department can handle all investigations with integrity. under the regulations, extraordinary circumstances here require the appointment of a special counsel for this matter. joining me now is the former deputy attorney general under president trump, rod rosenstein, overseeing the special counsel investigation into the russian election interference. welcome to meet the press. thank you. glad to be here, chuck. in december, after the appointment of the trump special counsel, when asked whether you would have done it, you want you probably wouldn t have. how about this biden special counsel? i think, chuck, having made the appointment in the trump case, merrick garland put himself in a position he really had no choice, unless the
addition, you know, the legal status of the vice president, whether or not he has authority to make any declassification questions. the key question is was president biden aware of those documents? would he have to sit for an interview? that would be a logical step. how a sitting president let s say something is found. what would happen? chuck, i think what should happen in the special counsel investigation is that the special counsel should evaluate the facts and the law, look at the department of justice policies, and make a recommendations to the attorney general whether or not the prosecution is warranted, and then it s up to the doj on whether to apply the policy.