IV 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 1028 

Impeaching Rod Rosenstein, the Deputy Attorney General of the United 

States, for high crimes and misdemeanors. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 25, 2018 

Mr. MEADOWS (for himself, Mr. JORDAN, Mr. JODY B. HICE of Georgia, Mr. 

DUNCAN of South Carolina, Mr. BIGGS, Mr. GOHMERT, Mr. GAETZ, Mr. 

DESJARLAIS, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. POSEY, and Mr. PERRY) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

RESOLUTION 

Impeaching Rod Rosenstein, the Deputy Attorney General 

of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors. 

1 Resolved, That Rod Rosenstein, Deputy Attorney 

2 General of the United States, is impeached for high crimes 

3 and misdemeanors, and that the following articles of im4 peachment be exhibited to the Senate: 

5 Articles of impeachment exhibited by the House of 

6 Representatives of the United States of America in the 

7 name of itself and all of the people of the United States 

8 of America, against Rod Rosenstein, Deputy Attorney 

9 General of the United States, in maintenance and support 


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1 of its impeachment against him for high crimes and mis2 demeanors. 

3 ARTICLE I

4 On March 2, 2017, Attorney General Jeff Sessions 

5 recused himself from any matter potentially relating to the 

6 2016 campaign. Upon the Attorney General’s recusal, 

7 Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein assumed re8 sponsibility to oversee the Department’s response to the 

9 congressional investigations of the Department of Justice 

10 and FBI. 

11 On July 27, 2017, House Judiciary Chairman Bob 

12 Goodlatte and 19 Members of Congress requested a sec13 ond Special Counsel to conduct a comprehensive investiga14 tion into matters related to the 2016 Presidential cam15 paign that appear to be outside the scope of Special Coun16 sel Mueller’s investigation. 

17 On September 26, 2017, House Judiciary Chairman 

18 Bob Goodlatte and 13 Members of Congress sent a letter 

19 repeating the call for a second Special Counsel. 

20 On March 6, 2018, Chairman Goodlatte and Chair21 man Gowdy called for the appointment of a second Special 

22 Counsel to investigate these matters due to the actual or 

23 potential conflicts of interests related to certain prosecu24 torial and investigative decisions made and not made by 

25 the Department of Justice in 2016 and 2017. 


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1 On March 29, 2018, Attorney General Sessions wrote 

2 in a letter to Chairman Chuck Grassley, Chairman Bob 

3 Goodlatte, and Chairman Trey Gowdy that he would not 

4 appoint a second Special Counsel to investigate these mat5 ters despite the apparent and actual conflicts of interests 

6 of current and former Department of Justice and FBI em7 ployees. 

8 On May 22, 2018, Rep. Lee Zeldin, along with 31 

9 Members of Congress, introduced H. Res. 907, a resolu10 tion expressing the sense of Congress that the Attorney 

11 General should appoint a second Special Counsel. 

12 On July 21, 2018, the Department of Justice re13 leased a heavily redacted set of documents containing the 

14 Carter Page FISA warrant application and subsequent re15 newals. Upon reviewing the documents, it is evident Dep16 uty Attorney General Rosenstein signed an FBI applica17 tion to renew FISA surveillance on Carter Page. 

18 As such, his conduct in authorizing the FISA surveil19 lance at issue in the joint congressional investigation 

20 makes him a fact witness central to the ongoing investiga21 tion of potential FISA abuse. Deputy Attorney General 

22 Rosenstein’s failure to recuse himself in light of this inher23 ent conflict of interest and failure to recommend the ap24 pointment of a second Special Counsel constitute derelic25 tion of duty. 


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1 Wherefore, Rod Rosenstein, by such conduct, war2 rants impeachment and trial, and removal from office. 

3 ARTICLE II

4 Mr. Rosenstein and the Department of Justice have 

5 repeatedly failed to produce documents requested by the 

6 Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on Over7 sight and Government Reform, despite the committees’ 

8 constitutional duty to conduct oversight of the FBI and 

9 broader Department of Justice. 

10 On October 24, 2017, the Committee on Judiciary 

11 and the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 

12 opened a joint investigation into the decisions made by the 

13 Department of Justice in 2016 and 2017 related to their 

14 handling of the Secretary Clinton email investigation. 

15 On November 3, 2017, Chairman Goodlatte, Chair16 man Gowdy, and four Members of Congress, sent a letter 

17 to Attorney General Sessions and Deputy Attorney Gen18 eral Rosenstein requesting documents related to certain 

19 prosecutorial and investigative decisions the Department 

20 of Justice’s made during the 2016 election. 

21 On December 12, 2017, Chairman Goodlatte, Chair22 man Gowdy, and other members sent a letter in further23 ance of their previous document requests, urging the De24 partment to provide withheld documents, and to comply 

25 with the Committees’ previous instructions to provide a 

26 privilege log for documents withheld or redacted on the 


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1 basis of a privilege. Mr. Rosenstein and the Department 

2 of Justice have refused to provide a privilege log for these 

3 documents, despite producing documents to Congress that 

4 are so redacted they contain little probative information. 

5 On February 1, 2018, Chairman Goodlatte sent a let6 ter requesting documents related to alleged abuses of the 

7 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (‘‘FISA’’) related to 

8 members of the Trump campaign. As Deputy Attorney 

9 General of the United States, Mr. Rosenstein is to act on 

10 behalf of the Attorney General for purposes of authorizing 

11 searches and electronic surveillance under the FISA. 

12 On March 22, 2018, Chairman Goodlatte issued a 

13 subpoena compelling Mr. Rosenstein and the Department 

14 of Justice to produce documents after the Department 

15 failed to fully comply with the Committee on the Judiciary 

16 and the Committee on Oversight and Government Re17 form’s document requests. In requesting documents re18 lated to alleged abuses of FISA related to members of the 

19 Trump campaign, the subpoena requested: 

20 (1) All documents and communications with the 

21 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (‘‘FISC’’) 

22 referring or relating to any Foreign Intelligence Sur23 veillance Act (‘‘FISA’’) applications associated with 

24 Carter Page or individuals on President Trump’s 


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1 2016 Presidential campaign or part of the Trump 

2 administration. 

3 (2) All documents and communications refer4 ring or relating to FISC hearings and deliberations, 

5 including any court transcripts, related to any FISA 

6 applications associated with Carter Page or the 

7 Trump campaign or Trump administration. 

8 (3) All documents and communications refer9 ring or relating to defensive briefings provided by 

10 the Department of Justice or FBI to the 2016 Pres11 idential campaigns of Hillary Clinton or President 

12 Trump. 

13 (4) All documents and communications refer14 ring or relating to proposed, recommended, or actual 

15 FISA coverage on the Clinton Foundation or per16 sons associated or in communication with the Clin17 ton Foundation. 

18 The Department of Justice has violated this congressional 

19 subpoena by failing to fully produce each of these cat20 egories of documents. 

21 Following the issuance of the March 22 subpoena, 

22 Mr. Rosenstein and the Department of Justice have re23 fused to comply with a Memorandum-of-Understanding 

24 negotiated with the Committee on the Judiciary and the 


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1 Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to expe2 dite the production of documents. 

3 Whereas the Department of Justice has missed docu4 ment production deadlines, produced duplicative pages of 

5 information, and has redacted pages to the point where 

6 they contain little probative information. 

7 Whereas additional documents provided to Members 

8 of Congress in July 2018 by whistleblowers demonstrate 

9 under Mr. Rosenstein’s leadership the Department of Jus10 tice and FBI have knowingly and intentionally withheld 

11 documents within the scope of the joint congressional in12 vestigation to avoid oversight. 

13 On June 27, 2018, witness testimony provided in a 

14 transcribed interview with members of the Committee on 

15 the Judiciary and the Committee on Oversight and Gov16 ernment Reform revealed the Department of Justice and 

17 Special Counsel Mueller had instructed material fact wit18 nesses to refuse to provide testimony within the jurisdic19 tion of the committees’ joint investigation; even though 

20 much of this information is not law enforcement sensitive 

21 and available through open source media reporting. 

22 On July 13, 2018, witness testimony provided in a 

23 transcribed interview with members of the Committee on 

24 the Judiciary and the Committee on Oversight and Gov25 ernment Reform revealed the Department of Justice had 


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1 failed to notify material fact witnesses of repeated con2 gressional requests for their testimony. 

3 Wherefore, Rod Rosenstein, by such conduct, war4 rants impeachment and trial, and removal from office. 

5 ARTICLE III

6 Upon in camera review of documents at the Depart7 ment of Justice, it was revealed the Department, under 

8 the supervision of Mr. Rosenstein, attempted to conceal 

9 certain facts as documents provided to Congress were 

10 heavily and unnecessarily redacted. Most of the redacted 

11 documents containing material investigative information 

12 did not contain law-enforcement-sensitive information, the 

13 Department’s stated basis for redactions. 

14 The Department of Justice, under the supervision of 

15 Mr. Rosenstein, unnecessarily redacted the price of FBI 

16 Deputy Director Andrew McCabe’s $70,000 conference 

17 table because it was potentially embarrassing information. 

18 The Department of Justice, under the supervision of 

19 Mr. Rosenstein, redacted FBI Agent Peter Strzok’s per20 sonal relationship with FISC Judge Rudolph Contreras. 

21 The Department of Justice, under the supervision of 

22 Mr. Rosenstein, redacted the names of high-ranking 

23 Obama administration officials, such as former White 

24 House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough. 


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1 The Department of Justice, under the supervision of 

2 Mr. Rosenstein, redacted the names of high-ranking FBI 

3 officials, such as former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. 

4 The Department of Justice acknowledged the unnec5 essary redactions and agreed that some information 

6 should not have been redacted in an April 16, 2018, letter 

7 to Representatives Meadows and Jordan. 

8 Wherefore, Rod Rosenstein, by such conduct, war9 rants impeachment and trial, and removal from office. 

10 ARTICLE IV

11 On May 17, 2017, Deputy Attorney General Rosen12 stein appointed Robert S. Mueller III as the Special Coun13 sel to investigate possible ties between the Trump cam14 paign and Russia. In May 2017, Mr. Rosenstein authored 

15 the initial memo articulating the scope of the Special 

16 Counsel investigation’s jurisdiction. 

17 On August 2, 2017, Mr. Rosenstein drafted a memo 

18 articulating the scope of the Special Counsel investigation 

19 which began by noting ‘‘the following allegations were 

20 within the scope of the investigation at the time of your 

21 appointment and are within the scope of the order’’, with 

22 nearly everything following the mention of those initial al23 legations redacted. 

24 Mr. Rosenstein’s memo is a classified document and 

25 almost completely redacted, raising concerns the appoint26 ment of Robert S. Mueller III as Special Counsel began 


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1 outside the scope of regulations for Special Counsel inves2 tigations by originating on a counterintelligence, rather 

3 than criminal, basis. 

4 Mr. Rosenstein’s memo also raises concerns given 

5 Special Counsel investigations are not warranted by the 

6 existence of mere allegations, and require there be facts 

7 evident warranting a ‘‘criminal investigation of a person 

8 or matter’’. 

9 Mr. Rosenstein’s memo raises fundamental concerns 

10 related to the Government’s basis for alleging ‘‘collusion’’ 

11 between the Trump campaign and Russia, and whether 

12 these allegations resulted in potential crimes warranting 

13 investigation. 

14 Despite the significant public interest in the matter 

15 and the constitutional authority of Congress to conduct 

16 oversight of the Department of Justice, Mr. Rosenstein 

17 has repeatedly failed to provide a less-redacted version of 

18 this scope memo, even in a classified setting. 

19 Wherefore, Rod Rosenstein, by such conduct, war20 rants impeachment and trial, and removal from office. 

21 ARTICLE V

22 In his capacity as Deputy Attorney General of the 

23 United States, Mr. Rosenstein oversaw the potentially im24 proper authorization of FISA searches and electronic sur25 veillance of members of the Trump campaign. 


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1 As evidenced by the July 21, 2018, release of the 

2 Carter Page FISA application, under Mr. Rosenstein’s su3 pervision, the ‘‘dossier’’ compiled by Christopher Steele on 

4 behalf of the Democratic National Committee and the Hil5 lary Clinton campaign formed a material part of the FISA 

6 application. 

7 Under Mr. Rosenstein’s supervision, the Department 

8 of Justice and FBI intentionally obfuscated the fact the 

9 dossier was originally a political opposition research docu10 ment before the FISC. 

11 Under Mr. Rosenstein’s supervision, Christopher 

12 Steele’s political opposition research was neither vetted be13 fore it was used in October 2016 nor fully revealed to the 

14 FISC, given Director Comey’s June 2017 testimony the 

15 dossier was ‘‘salacious and unverified’’. 

16 As Deputy Attorney General, Mr. Rosenstein has 

17 failed in his responsibility for the proper authorization of 

18 searches under FISA, and his conduct related to the sur19 veillance of American citizens working on the Trump cam20 paign has permanently undermined both public and con21 gressional confidence in significant counterintelligence 

22 program processes. 

23 Under Mr. Rosenstein’s supervision, the public’s con24 fidence in the integrity of the FISA process depends on 

25 the court’s ability to hold the Government to the highestVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:20 Jul 26, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR1028.IH HR1028

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1 standard-particularly as it relates to surveillance of Amer2 ican citizens. 

3 Given Mr. Rosenstein’s oversight of the FISA process 

4 is a central issue in the current congressional investigation 

5 into certain decisions made and not made by the Depart6 ment of Justice and FBI in 2016 and 2017, he has actual 

7 and potential conflicts of interest requiring the appoint8 ment of a second Special Counsel. 

9 Wherefore, Rod Rosenstein, by such conduct, war10 rants impeachment and trial, and removal from office. 

Æ 


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