David Leonhardt: How Rosenstein fell short

Principle isn't supposed to be something you turn on and off. View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Wednesday, May 1, 2019 [NYTimes.com/David-Leonhardt »]( [Op-Ed Columnist] Op-Ed Columnist Rod Rosenstein joined the Justice Department as a young lawyer in 1990, and he has worked there ever since. So he has had plenty of time to absorb the department’s internal culture. [That culture]( created in the aftermath of Watergate, calls for department officials to be less partisan and more independent than members of any other cabinet department. They are supposed to follow the letter and spirit of the law, even when doing so makes life uncomfortable for the president or his appointees. They’re supposed to care, above all, about justice. In Rosenstein’s tenure as the deputy attorney general, he failed to live up to the standard. He didn’t always fail, to be clear. In some important moments, he [stood up]( for the Justice Department’s ideals, above all by appointing Robert Mueller as special counsel. But principle isn’t supposed to be something that people turn on and off, depending on political expedience. And Rosenstein was far too willing to act expediently: - He provided President Trump political cover — transparently cynical cover — for the firing of James Comey. Rosenstein [wrote the memo]( that enabled Trump to claim he was firing Comey for good cause. - Rosenstein was willing to bend Justice Department practice meant to prevent political appointees from meddling in law-enforcement decisions. - Once Mueller’s investigation was over, Rosenstein helped the Trump administration mischaracterize its conclusions. He didn’t stick up for Mueller when William Barr, the attorney general, wrote a misleading letter about the investigation (a letter Mueller [found unfair](. Then Rosenstein stood by Barr while Barr gave a press conference in which he acted like Trump’s lawyer. - Finally, Rosenstein announced his resignation this week with a sycophantic letter to Trump, evidently meant to burnish Trump’s image. Again, Rosenstein is a complicated figure who acted honorably at times. But I suspect he himself realizes he compromised his principles. Last week, he gave a bizarre goodbye speech, sprinkled with sarcasm and petty attacks. It was not the speech that a person secure in his own record would have made. What others are saying “Rod Rosenstein’s tenure, for its many faults[,] also included moments of genuine service to and defense of this nation,” tweeted Lawfare’s [Susan Hennessey](. “Deep down, I fear he is someone we may miss when he is gone.” “No one should be celebrating Rod Rosenstein’s resignation,” tweeted [Julie Zebrak]( a Democratic activist and former Justice Department official. Without him, “the wall between D.O.J. and the White House will be weakened even further.” “Rosenstein ended his career as a dutiful functionary, allowing Trump to trash the rule of law while claiming he had upheld it,” concludes New York magazine’s [Jonathan Chait](. Constitutional scholar [Laurence Tribe]( “Self-serving. Self-protective. Filled with ethical compromise. Not exactly disgraceful. But not graceful either. Anything but heroic.” “History is not likely to treat Rosenstein well,” writes The Washington Post’s [Jennifer Rubin](. “He was weak when strength was required, cowardly when courage was called for.” [Josh Marshall]( of Talking Points Memo argues that when Rosenstein was free to make his own decisions (appointing Mueller, for example), he acted ethically. When he was constitutionally subordinate (to the president during Comey’s firing and to Barr after Mueller’s report), he followed orders. “Rosenstein’s sullen and defensive comments over the last couple weeks shows he thinks he managed to thread the needle but also knows it was quite ugly,” Marshall writes. ADVERTISEMENT If you enjoy this newsletter, forward it to friends! They can [sign up for themselves here]( — and they don’t need to be a Times subscriber. The newsletter is published every weekday, with help from my colleague Ian Prasad Philbrick. David’s Morning NYT Read [Anti-Semites Don’t Just Hate Jews. They’re Targeting Freedom.]( By DARA HORN No wonder gunmen are coming for us. The Full Opinion Report [A Rising Tide of Anti-Semitism]( By THE EDITORIAL BOARD By publishing a bigoted cartoon, The Times ignored the lessons of history, including its own. [Has Our Luck Run Out?]( By THOMAS L. 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