Republican Rep. Francis Rooney (FL-19) was a guest on MSNBC Live with Hallie Jackson to discuss the wicked Republican plans, announced the week of Christmas, to go after welfare recipients in the New Year—you know, like Jesus would do. But it was the final part of his interview that sent shivers down my spine. Rep. Rooney called for a purge of the FBI and the Department of Justice, starting with FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who recently announced plans to retire.
Our rule of law is at serious risk here. Republicans are rapidly politicizing the Department of Justice and the FBI, two agencies should not be weaponized for political purposes. Let the investigation into Russian interference proceed without politically motivated interference. Anything else is obstructing justice.
Watch and read Rep. Rooney’s comments (full transcript below). Even Hallie Jackson appeared to have to pick her jaw up off the ground as Rep. Rooney waded into full-blown conspiracy theories and a call for purging.
JACKSON: But before I let you go, I need to ask you about the his tweets. He's been fairly quiet Christmas day, but as you’ve seen, the president is tweeting about the FBI, he's been tweeting about FBI Director Andrew McCabe, why is that the right message right now for Donald Trump? And Republicans?
ROONEY: Well, there's two issues here. First of all, yes, the president does have his own unique communication style, which I don't think any of us have seen the use of Twitter deployed so broadly as a president does. But on the investigation, that investigation is totally off the rails. And I am really concerned --
JACKSON: But he's not tweeting the investigation, he’s tweeting about the FBI director. About FBI agents. Do you think that is appropriate for the president?
ROONEY: I'm very concerned that the DOJ and the FBI, whether you call it deep state or what, are kind of off-the-rails. When you look at what the Clinton research people. You look at what that Strozik was texting. When you look at what that Orr guy, the dossier, the Clinton oppo research people and then this McCabe guy's wife takes $600,000 from Clinton-related sources while running for state senator...
JACKSON: Congressman, you just called the FBI and the DOJ off-the-rails. Fundamentally, how is that something that you're okay with talking about here? How does that not sort of undermine the work that the agencies are doing? A
ROONEY: I think the American people have very high standards for our government agencies and to see people like these --
JACKSON: Are those agencies not living up to the standards?
ROONEY: Well, those aforementioned examples are really, really nerve-racking to me and undermine my confidence that the agencies don't respect the Constitution and will not put the ends before the means.
JACKSON: That's a pretty broad brush you're painting with.
ROONEY: Yeah, but we have seen a lot of ends before the means culture, both out of the Obama administration and out of Hillary Clinton, you know with her $84 million of potentially illegal campaign contributions or the Clinton foundation Uranium One. We've got -- people need a good, clean government.
JACKSON: Do you think people don't have a good clean government? I have to let you go, but the point I'm trying to get at, the ones looking at the comments you're making say Republicans are working to essentially trying to discredit the Department of Justice and thus discredit the Russia investigations. Is that not what you're doing?
ROONEY: No, I don't want to discredit them. I would like to see the directors of those agencies purging. And say, look, we have a lot of great agents, a lot of great lawyers here, those are the people I want the American people to see and know the good work is being done, not the team in the deep state.
JACKSON: Language like that, purge the Department of Justice?
ROONEY: Well, I think that Mr. Strozik could be purged, sure.
JACKSON: Congressman Francis Rooney, we'll leave it there. Thank you for joining us as we are on the road in West Palm Beach.