Rep. Louie Gohmert said Friday he's not surprised the Department of Justice did not reply to a House Intelligence Committee subpoena sent Monday seeking documents about the FBI's investigation of President Donald Trump, and he thinks it's another reason Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein should step down or be fired.
"He's covering up the misdeeds," the Texas Republican alleged during a Fox News "Happening Now" interview. "It needs to be understood that when the warrant was obtained from the FISA court to go after [former Trump aide] Carter Page, one of the requirements of the law is that they have to knowingly certify that they're getting information regarding to foreign intelligence and they couldn't get it any other way."
If the DOJ is violating the law "intentionally like that, knowing that they're on a witch hunt after Trump, they're not doing anything legally," the representative added. "They're nothing but sadistic voyeurs that ought to be punished the same way."
According to The Wall Street Journal's Kimberley Strassel on Thursday, two House sources confirmed that the Department of Justice received both a letter from the House Intelligence Committee and a subpoena demanding the docuements concerning a new line of inquiry.
The deadline for the documents was on Thursday, but it passed without the demands being met, Strassel wrote in an op-ed.
Other documents that the Intelligence Committee have received have contained many redactions, said Gohmert, and that's because "they don't want to show themselves to be violating the law...Rosenstein has to resign or be fired. It is that desperate right now. It's out of control."
Gohmert said he also agrees with Trump attorney and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani when with his complaints that the DOJ went against attorney-client privilege with raids on the home and offices of Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen.
He also defended Trump for initially saying he didn't repay Cohen for the $130,000 spent for a nondisclosure agreement with adult film actress Stormy Daniels, when, as it turned out, he had.
"It's just outrageous what is going on," said Gohmert. "If trump says I didn't know that he made the payment, that sounds like he's saying he didn't know he made the payment when the payment was made. Obviously he knew about it when he asked about it. He learned about it later. There's nothing inconsistent with him finding out later and repaying the attorney."
He also pointed out that the money was not a gift on behalf of Trump, as he repaid the money himself.
Gohmert also insisted that the matter would not be a violation of campaign laws if Cohen was doing something to support a business, like Cohen did, and then if Trump paid it back.
"And to violate the attorney client relationship, Giuliani is right," he added. "They're trampling all over the constitution."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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