TELLIN' IS STRAIGHT – AT 11:46 A.M. ET:  In the House today, blunt words were spoken, and I think they were spoken on behalf of most Americans.  From Fox: 

Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy tore into Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on Thursday over the long-running Russia collusion probe -- telling the Justice Department at a public hearing to “finish it the hell up because this country is being torn apart.”

Gowdy’s excoriation marked a stunning moment at the already-tense House Judiciary Committee hearing, amid a months-long battle between congressional Republicans and the Department of Justice over its handling of both the Russia probe and Hillary Clinton email investigation.

At the hearing, Gowdy spoke to frustration over the protracted Russia investigation that Rosenstein oversees, suggesting that despite a host of charges against Trump-tied figures, the investigation has not found evidence of presidential wrongdoing. 

“We’ve seen the bias, we need to see the evidence,” Gowdy said. If you have evidence of wrongdoing by any member of the Trump campaign, present it to the damn grand jury. If you have evidence that this president acted inappropriately, present it to the American people.”

“Whatever you got, finish it the hell up, because this country is being torn apart,” he said. 

Rosenstein, meanwhile, was grilled repeatedly Thursday by House Republicans over everything from his department’s role in Trump campaign surveillance to the damning watchdog report on FBI conduct during the Clinton email probe. 

Republicans have cited the recent DOJ inspector general’s report which criticized the handling of the Clinton probe and revealed anti-Trump texts from FBI agent Peter Strzok and others. Republicans have also been hounding the DOJ to produce documents related to the Russia investigation -- requests they say have been stonewalled by the agency.

The top DOJ official, who oversees the special counsel’s Russia probe, sought to defuse tensions – vowing to hold wrongdoers accountable in the wake of the inspector general report and defending the response to congressional requests for documents related to the Russia investigation.

COMMENT:  These probes have poisoned an already poisonous Washington.  The president has been under investigation since the day he entered office.  It's relentless.  And nothing has turned up.

We elect a president to take care of the affairs of government.  We have an impeachment process if there is evidence of serious crime.  The framers, I suspect, never prescribed a government by investigation.

The Mueller probe must be wrapped up.  And then we should rethink the whole idea of these special counsels, who run free, spend tens of millions of dollars, and often come up with the news that some target threw a beer can into a dumpster and missed.

June 28,  2018