Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Peter C. Fitzhugh, Special Agent in Charge of the Department of Homeland Security’s (“DHS”) Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”) in New York, and Dermot Shea, the Commissioner of the New York City Police Department (“NYPD”), announced today the arrest of TRACY REYNOLDS, a/k/a “Sara,” and IZHAK COHEN, for money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering in connection with their ownership and operation of VIP Escorts, a nationwide multimillion-dollar business offering high end prostitution services, as well as the seizure of bank accounts and 391 websites related to the VIP Escorts business. REYNOLDS was arrested this morning at Tampa International Airport while boarding a flight to Mexico and was presented today in Tampa federal court. COHEN was arrested by Israeli authorities in Hadera, Israel. The United States Attorney’s Office will seek COHEN’s extradition to stand trial in the United States.
According to the allegations in the Complaint sworn out in Manhattan federal court:[1]
From at least 2012 to the present, REYNOLDS and COHEN have operated an online high-end prostitution business through their company and its affiliates known as “VIP Escorts.” VIP Escorts maintains a website, http://wvvw.vipescorts.com (the “VIP Escorts Website”), which it used to promote its prostitution services and was registered to COHEN. VIP Escorts also operates an array of affiliated escort websites, which also advertised its prostitution services, with names such as “Prestige Escorts,” “American Escorts,” “Russian Escorts,” and “Manhattan Exotics,” all of which are registered to COHEN.
As part of their prostitution business, REYNOLDS and COHEN arranged for escorts to meet clients in Manhattan and in numerous other locations for prostitution services, charging them thousands of dollars. REYNOLDS and COHEN required escorts to deposit the proceeds of their commercial sex acts into a large number of bank accounts that they controlled, many of them in the name of fake entities. REYNOLDS and COHEN then laundered the money through thousands of domestic and international financial transactions. In total, over $10 million passed through various personal and business accounts controlled by REYNOLDS during the course of this conspiracy, and over $1 million was sent from REYNOLDS in the United States to COHEN in Israel in thousands of small transactions designed to conceal the nature, location, source, ownership, and control of the proceeds.
REYNOLDS and COHEN then used the proceeds of the prostitution scheme for personal gain and to further their illegal prostitution business. They paid, for example, over $295,000 from bank accounts under their control to advertise the VIP Escorts business on a known advertising platform for the prostitution industry.
* * *
REYNOLDS, 45, of Alamosa, Colorado, and Cohen, 53, of Hadera, Israel, are each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and two counts of money laundering, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by the judge.
Mr. Berman praised the outstanding investigative work of HSI, NYPD, and the El Dorado Task Force, and expressed his sincere gratitude to the Israel National Police and the Israel Ministry of Justice for their support and assistance with the investigation. He also thanked the Office of International Affairs of the U.S. Department of Justice for their assistance in the arrest of COHEN.
This case is being handled by the Office’s General Crimes Unit. Assistant United States Attorney Michael R. Herman is in charge of the prosecution.
The charge contained in the Complaint is merely an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
[1] As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the text of the Complaint and the description of the Complaint set forth herein constitute only allegations, and every fact described should be treated as an allegation.
This would mean that there was mortgage fraud, and probably property tax fraud, and TARP.
I speculate that if you squint your eyes really, really hard, then look at the financials, you will see the Detroit Land Bank Authority, but, hey, what do I know?
Jona Rechnitz was arrested on corruption charges in New York and then became a star witness. His testimony led to the conviction of several officials.
Jona Rechnitz & DeBlasio
Jona Rechnitz, center, made large donations to the campaigns and causes of Mayor Bill de Blasio, right, as a way to gain access.
Mayor Bill de Blasio called him a “liar and a felon.”
The man, Jona S. Rechnitz, was a wealthy real estate scion who made large donations to the mayor’s political campaigns and causes, gaining access to key officials, including Mr. de Blasio.
But Mr. Rechnitz became an instant pariah in City Hall after pleading guilty in 2016 to corruption-related charges. He admitted that those contributions — as well as direct bribes given to police officials — were a means to gain influence.
His admissions formed the core of a cooperation agreement in which he became a key government witness in three federal corruption trials, leading to the convictions and guilty pleas of half a dozen people, including a powerful correction officers’ union boss, a hedge fund mogul, a police official and a Brooklyn businessman.
Mr. Rechnitz became, according to federal prosecutors in Manhattan, “one of the single most important and prolific white-collar cooperating witnesses in the recent history of the Southern District of New York.”
On Thursday, Mr. Rechnitz was sentenced to five months in prison and five months of house arrest, followed by three years on parole, an outcome that contrasted sharply from the possible 20 years in prison he faced when he was first arrested and charged. The start of his sentence has been suspended pending the outcome of an appeal.
Before he was sentenced, Mr. Rechnitz apologized to Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein for his “criminal and moral” behavior, and asked the judge for leniency.
“I cannot express, your honor, how distraught I am at how I desecrated my religion,” he said, acknowledging that he had “made many poor choices, and many people suffered because of them.”
Mr. Rechnitz had endured intense public scrutiny as a government witness, federal prosecutors said. He met with prosecutors more than 80 times, often traveling to New York City from the West Coast, where he lived.
His testimony in one of the trials helped expose years of sordid and petty corruption within the New York City Police Department — officials who had provided favors in exchange for junkets, prostitutes and expensive gifts — that reached the highest echelon of the department.
Mr. Rechnitz’s testimony, the government wrote, had “exposed the sordid underbelly of multiple New York City institutions, exposed serious crimes and held powerful people who fell short of their obligations to the broader public to account.”
The cases cast a cloud over City Hall and the mayor, who was never accused of wrongdoing. Mr. Rechnitz asserted that he had bought access to City Hall with his donations to Mr. de Blasio’s campaigns and causes; the mayor said that Mr. Rechnitz was “exaggerating in many, many ways,” characterizing him as a “horrible human being.”
Mr. Rechnitz had undoubtedly hoped to make a different kind of impact when he moved to New York City from Los Angeles in 2008 to follow in his father’s footsteps in real estate.
He got his start with Africa Israel USA, an international real estate development firm owned by Lev Leviev, an Israeli real estate and diamond mogul. Mr. Rechnitz wanted badly to be a “big shot,” federal prosecutors said during one of the trials.
Mr. Rechnitz eventually met Jeremy Reichberg, an enterprising Brooklyn businessman who had built a reputation as a “fix-it guy” who used his police connections to help friends and associates with moving and parking violations for a fee. (He was sentenced to 48 months in prison in May.)
The men bonded, it seemed, over a shared desire to secure access to New York City’s most powerful and influential officials.
“He had all these connections to police,” Mr. Rechnitz testified. “I didn’t know many people that had connections with police, growing up in Los Angeles, and I thought this would be an awesome tool for me personally and for my business.”
The men became partners, federal prosecutors said, trading gifts with police officials for favors. Mr. Rechnitz testified that he spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on meals at luxury restaurants, sporting events, on private jets, jewelry, hotel stays, all-expense paid trips and prostitutes for officers.
The men used their connections to officers in one instance to shut down a lane in the Lincoln Tunnel to allow a police escort to take Mr. Leviev, Mr. Rechnitz’s boss, to his Manhattan hotel.
Jeremy Reichberg
Jeremy Reichberg, center, was Mr. Rechnitz’s partner; he was convicted earlier this year on bribery and conspiracy charges.
“This will earn me lots of points,” Mr. Rechnitz recalled thinking.
Three years later, he launched his own firm, JSR Capital, in midtown on Fifth Avenue.
By 2013, their police connections included four deputy chiefs in commands throughout the city.
Emboldened, they chartered a $60,000 jet to Las Vegas in February 2013 with a prostitute on board for an all-expense-paid Super Bowl weekend with two police officials.
On Christmas Day that year, they dressed as Santas and delivered expensive gifts to high-ranking police officials. In exchange, they got favors and police escorts.
Around the same time, they began courting Philip Banks III, a former chief of the department. They bought him a ring that once belonged to Muhammad Ali, took him to cigar bars and on trips to Israel, the Dominican Republic, Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
In return, they asked Mr. Banks for a parking placard, and to promote a police official — which Mr. Banks did. Mr. Banks was not charged with a crime. He resigned in 2014 citing unspecified personal and professional reasons.
Mr. Banks introduced Mr. Rechnitz to Norman Seabrook, the longtime leader of the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association, who was one of the most politically connected figures in the city.
Mr. Rechnitz played a key role in the prosecution of Mr. Seabrook, who was convicted last year on bribery and conspiracy charges. Mr. Seabrook had steered $20 million from the union into a risky hedge fund in exchange for a promised kickback worth more than $100,000. The union lost $19 million of its investment.
Still riding a wave of “unbridled ambition,” prosecutors said Mr. Rechnitz turned his attention to City Hall.
“We’re going to become significant contributors, but we want access,” Mr. Rechnitz told Mr. de Blasio’s chief fund-raiser. “When we reach out for things, we want them to get done.”
Over the next several months, Mr. de Blasio received more than $150,000 in contributions for his political campaigns and causes. In return, Mr. Rechnitz had the mayor’s personal cellphone number and email, which he used to invite the mayor to a Knicks game.
At his sentencing, Mr. Rechnitz who now operates a jewelry store in Los Angeles that is frequented by celebrities, told the judge that if he were given a lengthy prison sentence, he doubted that he could “start over a third time.”
Judge Hellerstein cited the Seabrook case in how he determined what sentence to give Mr. Rechnitz. He ordered Mr. Rechnitz to pay $10 million in restitution for the correction officers’ union’s loss.
“All of us do bad things,” the judge said. “Some of those bad things are criminal acts for which we must account.”
Hedge Fund Founder Pleads Guilty To Fraud In Connection With Bribery Of Former Correction Officers Union Leader
Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today the guilty plea of MURRAY HUBERFELD to wire fraud conspiracy in connection with funds used to bribe the former president of the nation’s largest municipal correction officers union. Specifically, HUBERFELD, founder of the Platinum Partners hedge fund (“Platinum”), pled guilty to conspiring with an intermediary, Jona Rechnitz, to cause the fund to pay $60,000 to Rechnitz’s company by falsely representing that the money was payment for courtside tickets to eight New York Knicks basketball games. Instead, as HUBERFELD knew, the actual purpose of the payment was to reimburse Rechnitz for having paid Norman Seabrook, then-president of the Correction Officer’s Benevolent Association (“COBA”), for Seabrook’s efforts to get COBA to invest millions of dollars in Platinum. HUBERFELD pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said: “Murray Huberfeld caused his former hedge fund to pay tens of thousands of dollars to a criminal partner in order to enable another crime – paying off the head of the correction officer’s union for the investment of millions of its members’ funds. We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to fight fraud and corruption.”
According to the Superseding Information, Superseding Indictment, Indictment, and Complaint filed in this case, other public filings, statements made during the plea proceeding, and evidence and testimony presented at trial proceedings in October and November of 2017:
HUBERFELD was the founder of Platinum, a hedge fund that he continued to help operate unofficially even after his formal affiliation with the fund had ceased. In late 2013, HUBERFELD and Rechnitz, a real estate businessman who was an acquaintance of HUBERFELD, sought to attract public and institutional investors to the fund. At or around that time, Rechnitz told HUBERFELD that a contact of his – COBA President Norman Seabrook – would likely invest COBA’s money in Platinum. Over the next few months, Seabrook caused COBA to invest approximately $20 million of its funds into Platinum, including $15 million from a retirement benefits program funded by the City of New York that invests money for correction officers’ retirements.
In or around December 2014, arrangements were made to pay Seabrook personally for the millions of dollars the Union had invested over the course of that year. Rechnitz paid Seabrook $60,000 in cash, delivered to Seabrook in a men’s luxury handbag. HUBERFELD and Rechnitz then arranged for Platinum’s management company to receive a fraudulent invoice for $60,000 – generated by Rechnitz – that, on its face, billed Platinum for eight pairs of courtside tickets to New York Knick games given to Platinum by Rechnitz, who owned Knicks season tickets. In truth, and as HUBERFELD knew, the reason given to Platinum was false, and no Knicks tickets had changed hands. The real purpose of the payment was to reimburse Rechnitz, who had paid Seabrook for his efforts in securing COBA’s investments. Three days later, Platinum issued Rechnitz a $60,000 check.
HUBERFELD, 57, of Lawrence, New York, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The charge carries a maximum term of five years in prison. HUBERFELD is scheduled to be sentenced on September 14, 2018. The maximum potential penalty is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge.
Trial against Seabrook, on charges of (i) conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, (ii) the substantive offense of honest services wire fraud, and (iii) the substantive crime of wire fraud with respect to COBA’s right to control its assets, is scheduled to commence on July 30, 2018, before Judge Hellerstein. As to Seabrook, the charges in the various charging instruments are merely allegations, and Seabrook is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Mr. Berman praised the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the New York City Police Department, Internal Affairs Division.
This case is being handled by the Office’s Public Corruption Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys Martin S. Bell, Russell Capone, and Lara Pomerantz are in charge of the prosecution.
El Chapo returns in a tale of espionage, intrigue and some hard core playas.
This New York tale spans the globe, through the ages, but for now, we enjoy the possibilities of this New York Officer being a whistleblower, which is what an undercover officer is, not saying he is, nor am I saying El Chapo is a whistleblower, but I thought I would just present plausible scenario, considering the fact that Loretta Lynch was hard on the New York Police, and the New York Police had their psyoptic moments.
Ishmael Bailey, 36, was arrested Wednesday and arraigned in Queens Criminal Court on five counts
NYPD officer Ishmael Bailey gestures as he exits the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse, in the Brooklyn borough of New York, U.S., July 17, 2019.
A New York police officer who worked an off-duty job as a bodyguard for the wife of drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán faces felony drug charges after he was accused of accepting cash in exchange for police protection in a cocaine operation.
Ishmael Bailey, 36, was arrested Wednesday and arraigned in Queens Criminal Court on five counts, including criminal sale and possession of a controlled substance, receiving bribes and official misconduct. The 12-year veteran of the force was suspended without pay after his arrest. If convicted, he would face up to 15 years in prison.
Prosecutors at Bailey’s arraignment mentioned his work for the Sinaloa Cartel boss’s wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro, earlier this year, escorting her to and from the Brooklyn federal courthouse in July, when her husband was sentenced for running the world’s largest narcotics trafficking group.
Bailey’s attorney, Jeffrey Cohen, said his client’s side jobs are “irrelevant.”
“He’s not being brought up on charges for that,” Cohen told The Washington Post. “What’s happening now is, he’s pled not guilty, and I’m investigating the matter.”
NYPD officer Ishmael Bailey escorts Emma Coronel Aispuro, the wife of Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman, from the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse, following the sentencing of Guzman in the Brooklyn borough of New York, U.S., on July 17, 2019.
Bailey’s prosecution involves conduct that postdates Guzman’s trial and does not involve the Sinaloa Cartel, according to the district attorney’s office.
According to the criminal complaint, Bailey met with an undercover officer last month, who he believed was a drug dealer. On two occasions, he agreed to provide security as packages of cocaine were transported from location to location; he was allegedly paid in cash per kilogram moved.
Bailey earned $2,500 on Sept. 4 for driving a duffel bag filled with drugs to a parking lot in Queens, prosecutors said. The following week, Bailey again acted as a security guard for the undercover officer, according to the complaint, and he was paid $10,000 to pick up two kilograms of cocaine.
The acting district attorney of Queens County, John Ryan, said Bailey “took an oath to enforce the law. Today, sadly, he is accused of taking part in an illicit drug operation.”
New York Police Commissioner James O’Neill also condemned Bailey’s alleged acts.
“There is no place for corruption within the NYPD,” O’Neill said at a news conference after the arrest. “When an individual officer intentionally tarnishes the shield worn proudly by thousands before him, he will be held to the highest account the law provides.”
Bailey is next scheduled to appear in court Oct. 3.
"Turn up the pressure, we need to finish powerwashing civil rights history."
The time has come to stop the political propaganda psyoptics.
Rallying the desperate few who are willing to do anything to put food on the table, for the purposes of furthering the objectives of foreign operations to interfere in elections?
I was at the birth of the #coloredrevolution, watching the "Legal Geniuses" (trademark pending) come up with their bleachbitted, or in this instance, powerwashed, civil rights history to recycle some of their best operations.
I call this the Water Dousing - Water Hosing psyoptic to seduce the public with historic civil rights visuals of the mistreatment of innocent persons, for the political purposes of legislating from from the media bully pulpit.
I only am skeptical because I know there are big time, ongoing investigations in New York, which includes its police department and human trafficking, but I do take great concern in the well being of the officers of peace.
I also know there are many laws already on the books that may be applied to remedy this situation, leaving no need for this psyoptic.
Then, Bill deBlasio held a press conference on Eric Garner.
Rhee is the latest big name to land at Paul Weiss in recent months. In an interview, Rhee said she is "eager to go back to representing clients. It's something that I've done for a really long time."
Jeannie Rhee, a leading prosecutor who served for two years on Special Counsel Robert Mueller III’s investigation team, is joining Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison as a partner in the firm’s white-collar litigation practice in Washington.
Rhee had been one of three Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr partners to join Mueller’s team in May 2017. Mueller had been a partner at the firm before his appointment as special counsel overseeing more than a dozen lawyers investigating the ties between Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia and the president’s purported efforts to obstruct the inquiry.
“We are delighted to welcome Jeannie, who brings unrivaled experience as one of the nation’s leading white-collar and regulatory defense lawyers and as a first-chair trial lawyer,” Paul Weiss chairman Brad Karp said in a statement. “Jeannie’s years of government service—as a senior Justice Department prosecutor, a member of the Mueller investigative team and an advisor to the U.S. Attorney General and to the White House—will be an invaluable asset to our clients.”
Rhee joined Mueller’s team with then-Wilmer partners James Quarles and Aaron Zebley. Robert Novick, co-chairman of Wilmer, recently called Mueller, Quarles, Rhee and Zebley “highly valued partners and friends.” He added: “If they’re interested in talking, we’re certainly going to talk to people.”
Representatives from Wilmer did not immediately comment Friday.
On Mueller’s team, Rhee was a top prosecutor in the case against three Russian firms and 13 individuals charged with carrying out an alleged campaign to sow discord within the U.S. electorate during the 2016 presidential election. Only one of the 16 defendants in that case, a Russian company called Concord Management and Consulting, has answered the charges in Washington’s federal trial court.
Rhee was a mainstay in court over the past two years as the special counsel’s case against Concord Management played out in front of U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich. The judge has issued several rulings that have kept the charges in place. The company, represented by Reed Smith partners Eric Dubelier and Katherine Seikaly, has pleaded not guilty.
In an interview, Rhee said she is “eager to go back to representing clients. It’s something that I’ve done for a really long time.” She added: “It was really the opportunity to be part of a dynamic office in Washington, D.C., that is nevertheless part of the large powerhouse that is Paul Weiss. It’s a terrific opportunity, and I couldn’t turn it down.”
Rhee reported receiving more than $3.5 million in partner compensation from Wilmer since 2016, according to federal ethics disclosures she filed in 2017 and in 2018. Rhee rejoined the firm in 2011 after a two-year stint at Main Justice, where she had been a deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel. The Yale Law School graduate first joined Wilmer in 2006 from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
“As an Asian-American woman, I am often not expected to be a fierce litigator,” Rhee said in a 2014 spotlight at The Diversity Journal. “It takes that extra effort on my part, when I meet with clients face-to-face, to have them see me in action to convey how my ethnicity, gender, stature, and the like do not at all prevent me from being a formidable advocate.”
Rhee is the latest high-profile partner hire at Paul Weiss.
Her arrival comes just weeks after former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch joined the firm as a partner in New York. In January, the heavyweight appellate lawyer Kannon Shanmugam left Williams & Connolly to become managing partner of Paul Weiss’ growing Washington office.
“I think my vision for the office is that I want Paul Weiss to be the best place to be a litigator in D.C.,” Shanmugam told The National Law Journal in a recent interview. “I really want this to be the best little law firm in Washington, that’s kind of how I think about it, and to have all of the benefits of a boutique-type practice within one of the world’s greatest law firms.”
Other former members of Mueller’s team are returning to law firms and other posts since the Russia investigation culminated in a 448-page report published in April. The investigation documented connections between Russia and Trump’s presidential campaign, but prosecutors did not recommend criminal charges. Mueller’s team also showed what they believed were obstructive acts taken by Trump to thwart the investigation. The report said that while no charges were being recommended, Trump was not being exonerated.
Another prosecutor on Mueller’s team, Greg Andres, returned to Davis Polk & Wardwell earlier this year. Andres played a lead role in the prosecution of Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, on charges related to his lobbying work for Ukraine. Manafort is serving a prison sentence of more than seven years for charges brought in Washington and in Virginia.
Michael Dreeben, who joined the Mueller team from the Justice Department’s solicitor general’s office, has announced plans to retire from government service. Dreeben, formerly a deputy solicitor general and one of the department’s top criminal-law experts, has not said where he is going next. Dreeben has been a DOJ lawyer for some 30 years.
Andrew Weissmann, a former top fraud section prosecutor at Main Justice, has taken a post teaching at New York University School of Law. Weissmann, also formerly a Jenner & Block partner and general counsel to the FBI, is reportedly out with a book proposal, according to CNN. The book will recount Weissmann’s work on Mueller’s team, The New York Times reported Friday.
Mueller, meanwhile, has not announced his plans. He joined Wilmer in 2014 from the FBI, where he had served as director for more than a decade.
The Detroit Land Bank Authority had more than $500,000 in legal expenses amid a federal investigation into the city's multimillion-dollar demolition program, the Detroit Free Press reported.
The newspaper said its analysis of legal invoices through April 8, obtained under the Michigan Freedom of Information Act, found the land bank paid the money to two firms to represent it, the city and the Detroit Building Authority. WilmerHale and Miller Canfield were paid $537,414 for legal representation since June 29, 2016, the report says.
The land bank defended the amount, saying: "the top priority is to make sure we comply fully with the investigation."
Detroit has received $258 million in federal funding since 2013 to target blight by tearing down vacant structures. The investigation has led to guilty pleas.
On Thursday, Mayor Mike Duggan said he would seek a $200 million bond to help Detroit continue demolitions and eliminate blight in five years.
For those of you just now joining us in this next, exciting adventure on Cocktails & Popcorn, Rod just got passionate and went "Plato-Phaedo":
So I do not blame the former director for being angry. But now the former director is a partisan pundit selling books and earning speaking fees while speculating on the strength of my character and the fate of my immortal soul. That is disappointing. Speculating about souls is not a job for police and prosecutors. Generally, we base our opinions on eyewitness testimony."
Here is a refresher on memos.
He tells no lies because that is what they all do to launder money.
Former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein offered a vigorous defense of his decisions in the Justice Department on Monday evening, including his role in President Trump’s sudden firing of James Comey as FBI director, whom he said has become "a partisan pundit" since his ouster.
Rosenstein, in a speech before the Greater Baltimore Committee's (GBC) annual meeting, described the firing as a difficult judgment call that was made after Comey strayed from the long-standing practices the FBI and the Department of Justice (DOJ) adhere to when dealing with open investigations.
The recently retired DOJ official also defended his oversight of the counterintelligence investigation into whether members of the Trump campaign conspired with Russia to win the 2016 election amid criticism that Comey’s firing was an attempt to obstruct the probe, which was ultimately completed by special counsel Robert Mueller.
"I would never have allowed anyone to interfere with the investigation," Rosenstein told the GBC, according to prepared remarks.
The White House initially pinned the decision to fire Comey on Rosenstein’s May 9, 2017, memo, a three-page document that transformed the former deputy attorney general from a little-known Justice Department official to one of the most scrutinized officials in the Russia probe. Trump later told NBC News’s Lester Holt that the Russia investigation factored into his thinking and that he would have fired Comey "regardless of recommendation."
Mueller investigated Comey’s firing among roughly a dozen episodes of possible obstruction of justice by Trump. The special counsel ultimately did not reach a conclusion on whether Trump obstructed the probe, writing in his report that his investigators could not "conclusively" determine Trump did not commit a crime.
Rosenstein said Monday that no one told him that Comey’s ouster "was intended to influence the course" of the Justice Department’s investigation into Russia's interference.
"The special counsel’s report states that the president’s counsel advised me on a Monday afternoon that the president had decided to remove the director," Rosenstein said. "It was news to me. Nobody said that the removal was intended to influence the course of my Russia investigation."
Rosenstein pointed to Comey’s unprecedented decisions surrounding the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s handling of classified materials while secretary of State as the basis for his firing, stating that his actions "were not within the range of reasonable decisions."
Those actions include his decision to announce in July 2016 — without the consent of DOJ prosecutors or former Attorney General Loretta Lynch — that the FBI investigation had closed the Clinton email probe and that the bureau was not recommending criminal charges against Clinton as well as his subsequent decision to announce just days before the polls opened in 2016 that the bureau was reopening its investigation into Clinton's emails after additional records had been recovered.
"They were inconsistent with our goal of communicating to all FBI employees that they should respect the Attorney General’s role, refrain from disclosing information about criminal investigations, avoid disparaging uncharged persons, and above all, not take unnecessary steps that could influence an election," Rosenstein said.
According to Rosenstein’s account, the president shared a letter laying out his reasons for firing Comey before asking the No. 2 DOJ official to give then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions a memo outlining his concerns about Comey’s conduct the following morning.
Rosenstein, who left the Justice Department last week, noted that those who serve as the head of the FBI are often required to make tough choices. But he added that Comey, rather than reflecting on his mistakes, made it clear he stood by his decisions while testifying before Congress.
"In essence, he said that he would do it again if he had the chance," Rosenstein said.
Rosenstein said he would’ve handled the firing differently, but he defended the reasons he laid out in his memo.
"If I had been asked to make a recommendation before the removal decision was made, I would have included a more balanced analysis of the pros and cons. But my brief memo to the Attorney General is correct, and it was reasonable under the circumstances," Rosenstein said.
"If I had been the decision-maker, the removal would have been handled very differently, with far more respect and far less drama," he continued.
Rosenstein said he personally "admired" Comey for his leadership of the FBI and he did not "blame" him for being angry over his termination, but he also blasted the former director for since becoming "a partisan pundit" who has repeatedly attacked his character.
"Now the former Director is a partisan pundit, selling books and earning speaking fees while speculating about the strength of my character and the fate of my immortal soul," Rosenstein said. "That is disappointing. Speculating about souls is not a job for police and prosecutors. Generally we base our opinions on eyewitness testimony."
Rosenstein also defended his decision to appoint a special counsel to oversee the case, deeming that such a move would "best protect America from foreign adversaries and preserve public confidence in the long run."
"I knew that some people would not be happy about it. I knew that it would be unpleasant for me and my family. But at my confirmation hearing, I promised that I would conduct the investigation properly and see it through to the appropriate conclusion," Rosenstein said. "In my business, you keep promises. And in my business, the appropriate conclusion is the one that results when you follow the normal process and complete an independent investigation," he continued.
The appearance represented Rosenstein’s second public remarks as a private citizen since departing the Trump administration just two days ago. Hours earlier, Rosenstein delivered a commencement address at the University of Baltimore School of Law, during which he quoted Mueller in advising students to not succumb to pressure to abandon their principles.
It seems Loretta Lynch did the tarmac meeting with Bill Clinton as a way of "recusing" herself from the investigation, as, possible, a cross contamination of an ongoing investigation by announcing accepting the recommendations of Comey and career prosecutors make.
Whatever the reason, it was legally strategic.
It seems the investigation started right about the day after the 2016 Primary Election in Michigan and went full throttle after the 2016 General Election, but hey, what do I know?
Lisa Page is an immigrant, but I wonder if she was adopted.
Lisa has two children. Adoption?
Did Bob Mueller give Lisa the Stinky Touch in his request to have her join the investigative team?
Me thinketh so.
FBI, David Corn, Glenn Simpson, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, John McCain's staff and Buzzfeed all had multiple versions of the Trump Dossier in their emails.
Buzzfeed does not have the greatest reputation when it comes to cover politics, so, I am just going to say it was not the greatest idea to even include them in the mix.
Oddly, she did not mention Mike Cernovich when she dropped Buzzfeed.
Then Christopher Steele had the final version.
Interesting, she referenced Watergate prosecutors, in a comparative analytical kind of way.
Funny, she did not once mention John Conyers which leads me, again, to think that her "gung ho" work on the investigation was a distraction of other stuff, like trafficking tiny humans, but hey, what do I know?
It also seems Obama knew about the trafficking of tiny humans, which is why he called to back off the Clinton probe, because there was another, ongoing investigation, which is why Comey backed off.
Everyone was watching them.
You know what they say, "Your friends are close, but your enemies are closer", which is why Mueller wanted her on the team, but hey, what do I know?
I know the second day interview was about the Clinton emails, which I already know that those emails were secured from a different location...in Detroit, but hey, what do I know?
I know that I am just going to say that Lisa Page is one of those "Legal Geniuses" (trademark pending).
Based on yesterday’s transcript release, Loretta Lynch may have some explaining to do: https://t.co/xEOFZpBxKQ
Rep. Doug Collins, the ranking member of the House Committee on the Judiciary, has released transcripts of former FBI Assistant General Counsel Lisa Page's interview with the committee. The transcripts from Page's interviews on July 13 and July 16, 2018 are provided below.
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