Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein dodged most of the questions thrown his way during a Friday briefing with House lawmakers regarding the Russia probe, a Republican congressman said.
Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla. spoke with Newsmax TV's Steve Malzberg about the briefing that filled in members of the House chamber about where the Department of Justice's investigation into whether there was an improper relationship between Russia and members of President Donald Trump's campaign.
"I had questions about whether it was appropriate to appoint a special counsel to begin with," DeSantis said of the DOJ's decision to name former FBI director Robert Mueller as special counsel to the investigation.
"I asked him about that and he didn't really answer me . . . He got a lot of questions. He dodged most of them."
According to DeSantis, Rosenstein did confirm that former FBI director James Comey — whom Trump fired last week, a move that has caused much controversy — never officially requested more resources for the Russia probe. Reports suggested that Comey was seeking more federal funding for the bureau's investigation.
"That's totally false. Typical fake news. He said definitively [acting FBI director] Andrew McCabe said no. The Justice Department said no," DeSantis said. "There's not a single person that knows of any such request or the need for something."
DeSantis added that when he asked Rosenstein about whether the Russia probe is a counterintelligence investigation or a criminal one, the DOJ's second in command conferred with others before saying he could not comment on that.
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