On June 3, 2020, former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee to discuss his role in how Main Justice was operating while Andrew Weissmann’s special counsel was in charge.   What he said in that hearing never quite made sense until yesterday.

Those who closely followed the arc of the Weissmann/Mueller investigation; and those who joined us in following that investigation; already knew the SCO was in complete control from May 2017 to April 2019.  Everything taking place inside the DOJ in the two years of the Mueller/Weissmann probe was completely and unequivocally controlled by the Weissmann team.  Few journalists have ever grasped the ramifications of that control.

That control included every release and non-release of information during their two year tenure.  However, Rosenstein’s tone when questioned about the scope memos he authorized during the special counsel time-frame was very odd in that June hearing.

Rosenstein had a very guilty conscience and it was on full display as he attempted to justify his action.  You see, there was always a missing scope memo from October 20, 2017, that no-one in the DOJ ever discussed.  The nature of the scope memo was mentioned by Weissmann and Mueller in part of their Russia report; but until yesterday it was hidden.

Here is the only mention of the October 20, 2017, scope memo prior to yesterday:

As you can see above the special counsel’s office used that October 20th scope memo to expand their investigative authorities.  Specifically the second redacted name is very important because this specific memo authorized Andrew Weissmann to target Michael Flynn Jr as pressure to coerce a guilty plea from Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn a month later.

During his apologetic senate testimony Rosenstein told congress he never questioned the authority of the special counsel team and never once questioned their “investigative process“, those are his words.  Additionally, Rosenstein testified he signed all the scope memos because he felt it was his “responsibility” to facilitate the SCO needs regardless of what they requested; and every request was considered an “investigative process” by him.

Yesterday the mysteriously avoided October 20, 2017, scope memo was finally released to Catherine Herridge from the Senate Homeland Security Committee (Chairman Ron Johnson).  Within the scope memo we can now see exactly what reference point Rosenstein was carrying during his June testimony.

The scope memo was written by the special counsel’s office and the last page shows the motive and intent of Weissmann’s crew.  Notice the tone and direction of the memo as that aspect also conveys a message; and do not overlook the specific phrase “jointly undertaken activity.”  That approach was used by the SCO to target Flynn Jr.:

Notice Andrew Weissmann gave Rod Rosenstein the option, literally the physical option line, to approve or deny the widely expanded scope of the special counsel authority.

In essence this approach forces Rosenstein, in material and documentary form, to take ownership of the outcomes of the special counsel…. OR create a written documentary form that could be used against Rosenstein (via media allies) if he did not agree to expand the scope and authority of the special counsel.

Yes folks, Weissmann created “an authorized get out of jail free card“.  WATCH:

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Considering the amount of praise AG Bill Barr heaped upon Rosenstein; which explains why the DOJ kept this scope memo buried; and considering the implications of this expanded SCO authority that was granted by Rosenstein; this explains the tone during the June hearing.