A lot of people are asking me on Twitter for my assessment of Rod Rosenstein’s and Chris Wray’s conduct yesterday. I had suggested in my Atlantic piece yesterday that I thought they would resign, rather than breach the red line of allowing Devin Nunes...
...access to material on an FBI confidential informant. The White House statement suggests there will be an accommodation—and neither man has resigned. So what gives?
First of all, I don’t know what happened yesterday and I’m not going to make up an answer here. But there is some reason to believe Wray and Rosenstein may have preserved the most important DOJ equities in this terrible situation.
So I would caution everyone to give them the benefit of the doubt.
First off, DOJ clarified to @maddow last night that that the White House statement was not an agreement to turn over documents. It was an agreement to review information with congressional leadership—which, it stressed, is different.
This leaves open the possibility that we are talking about some kind of briefing that does not open the barn doors to #WeNeedtoTalkAboutDevin.
If Wray and Rosenstein can reach an accommodation they can live with—even a bad one—the exigent need to protect the Mueller investigation may well justify a step that would otherwise be unacceptable.
The step may, in fact, STILL be unacceptable, but it may be, to paraphrase Don Rumsfeld, the least worst option.
Second, let’s all be a little bit humble about judging these men. I have had harsh words for Rosenstein in the past, and Wray has handled some things suboptimally, in my view. But they are both right now in a simply impossible situation. And they are playing a critical role.
Let’s all make a point of not jumping to conclusions about how they are conducting themselves. They are not above criticism and evaluation, of course. But a certain caution in getting ahead of the facts to judge is worthwhile.
So what’s my bottom line? Uncertainty and, for now, deference.
And support. These men need unwavering public support.
And support. These men need unwavering public support.
That’s all I got. 
