Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano predicted Thursday that there would not be “any legal trouble for the awful things” done by former Acting Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and former Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe.
“I mean, neither of these guys can get in any legal trouble for the awful things that they did when one ran the [Department of Justice], actually number two but he was running this part of it, and the other was number two,” Napolitano told “Fox & Friends.”
The judge was commenting on the ongoing Senate Judiciary Committee hearings that are investigating why a probe into alleged collusion between then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and Russia was initiated. (RELATED: Rod Rosenstein Will Testify Before Senate In Review Of Trump-Russia Probe)
Rosenstein said Wednesday during questioning from committee chairman and Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham that he “would not” have signed a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant against former Trump campaign official Carter Page if he knew at that time what he knows today about how the FISA process was abused.
Rosenstein, who left the Department of Justice (DOJ) May 11, 2019, was a key player in establishing the investigation into whether President Donald Trump had colluded with Russia during the 2016 presidential election campaign.
He appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller as the special counsel to oversee the investigation which eventually resulted in a report that found no evidence of collusion by Trump with Russia. Rosenstein also signed the FISA warrant against Page.
Graham reminded the senators that Page had been identified as a Russian asset largely on the strength of the now-discredited Steele dossier. Graham has previously said that Page should “sue the hell out of” the FBI and Department of Justice.
“I don’t know who’s telling the truth,” Napolitano said, referring to Rosenstein and McCabe. “In my opinion, nothing will happen. This will be a swearing match between the two of them. I commend Sen. Graham for trying to get to the bottom of this. But now he has to call Andy McCabe.” (RELATED: Jim Jordan: Rosenstein, Sessions ‘Need To Be Held Accountable’)
Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe and the other heads of the U.S. intelligence agencies prepare to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill May 11, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
McCabe said Wednesday that Rosenstein’s testimony was inaccurate.
“Mr. Rosenstein’s claims to have been misled by me, or anyone from the FBI, regarding our concerns about President Trump and the Trump campaign’s interactions with Russia are completely false,” McCabe said in a statement reported by Fox News.
Napolitano mentioned that McCabe did not make the statement under oath, adding near the end of his remarks that “the committee is going to want to get to the bottom of this.”