A Republican House leader defended the FBI's raid of President Donald Trump's private attorney, saying special counsel Robert Mueller had an obligation to report "potential criminality" to the "appropriate jurisdiction" of New York.
"I don't know what Mueller was supposed to do other than what he did," House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., told "Fox News Sunday."
"When a prosecutor comes in contact with information or evidence of a crime, what are you supposed to do, other than refer to the appropriate jurisdiction?
"Now if Mueller had kept something tangential or unrelated to himself, then I'd say fine, you can criticize him, but he came into contact with potential criminality. He referred it to the U.S. attorney's office of jurisdiction, and he did so with the permission of Rod Rosenstein."
Gowdy then dismissed the notion Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein should be fired for his handling of the special counsel, even if Rosenstein warrants some "criticism."
"As for Rod Rosenstein, I don't see a basis for firing him and his handling of this probe," Gowdy told Fox News host Chris Wallace. "Now, he's the one who drafted that original jurisdiction for Mueller, so if you think it's too broad, then you got to direct your criticism toward Rosenstein, and not to Mueller.
"If you're upset with Rosenstein because he's slow-walking document production to Congress, take that up with him. But how this is Mueller's fault just defies logic to me, Chris."
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