Washington, DC – Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, released the following statement on Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s briefing of the Senate on matters related to the firing of Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey today:
“Congress has a constitutional oversight role separate from the Department of Justice’s role prosecuting crimes. Special counsels don’t change that.
“Today the Deputy Attorney General acknowledged that congressional investigations would continue into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. The Deputy assured us that he would establish a process to deconflict these roles, and he agreed, at the appropriate time, to describe the new structure of the DOJ investigation under the special counsel. We will continue robustly doing the people’s business in the Senate, just as we expect the special counsel to do the people’s business in that investigation. At my request, the Deputy Attorney General agreed to release his opening statement from today’s briefing, which will shed more light on the events of recent days.”
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