Mark Meadows on IG Report: ‘Rosenstein Must Be Held Accountable for His Obstructionist Conduct’

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-NC) released a statement on Thursday, charging that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein “must be held accountable for his obstructionist conduct” after the Inspector General (IG) report was released.

Inspector General Michael Horowitz released his highly-anticipated report, which detailed the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation. The report reveals a previously undisclosed text exchange between FBI agent Peter Strzok and his mistress Lisa Page. Strzok told Page that “We’ll stop it,” when asked about Donald Trump potentially being elected president.

The report also suggested that former FBI Director James Comey “dramatically” broke with bureau norms regarding his handling of the Clinton email investigation.

Meadows said in a statement on Thursday:

The findings from Inspector General Horowitz are deeply disturbing and raise alarming questions about a Justice Department that should serve as a bedrock for America’s people. IG Horowitz’s report and his conclusions reveal a troubling number of executive failures that absolutely cannot happen in this country.

The House Freedom Caucus chairman then chastised Rosenstein for hiding the text suggesting that Strzok will stop Trump from becoming president.

Meadows continued:

Even more disturbing is the idea that Congress is just now learning of information we should have received from the DOJ months ago. Why are we just now learning of a text message where Peter Strzok discusses “stopping” Donald Trump from becoming President? Why did Rod Rosenstein and the Justice Department hide this text message from investigators? There is absolutely no excuse. The fact that we are finding out about this text in an OIG report once again confirms that Mr. Rosenstein has zero interest in anything even approaching transparency.

“Peter Strzok should not have a job anywhere near our Justice Department. Rod Rosenstein must be held accountable for his obstructionist conduct,” the North Carolina conservative added. “James Comey should come before Congress and answer for his deeply improper handling of this investigation.”

Meadows concluded in his statement, “After this report, it’s clear we have a long way to go to restore the integrity of and public faith in our Justice Department. Americans deserve better than this.”