On Rod Rosenstein (2/3/17)

Jessica Karmasek, Attorneys: ‘By-the-book,’ ‘apolitical’ Rosenstein is ‘beyond qualified’ for deputy AG role (Legal NewsLine 2/2/17), here.

If you ask those who have worked with Rod Rosenstein whether he would be a good fit for the No. 2 spot at the U.S. Department of Justice, you’ll get a resounding “yes.”

I could excerpt more, but just read the article linked.

DOJ Tax Alum Writes on DOJ Tax Alums as Constraining Forces at DOJ in Trump Administration (2/3/17)

Stuart Gibson, Tax Division Alum, has written this piece, Tax Division To The Rescue -- If Trump Wants To Be Rescued (Tax Analysts / Forbes 2/1/17), here, noting the roles of two DOJ Tax Alums with DOJ in the Trump Administration that may act as constraining influences on his exuberances.  

Gibson sets up the bottom-line as follows:

That incident [firing of Acting AG Yates], and the appointment of Sen. Jeff Sessions, R.-Ala., as attorney general, have elevated two relatively unknown United States attorneys to prominence in the nascent Trump administration. After Trump fired Yates, he replaced her with Dana Boente, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. Independently, he has nominated Rod Rosenstein, U.S. attorney for Maryland, to be the next deputy attorney general under Sessions. 

Both Boente and Rosenstein served as deputy assistant attorneys general in the Tax Division, and both have served under Presidents Bush and Obama. They understand the Tax Division’s culture of enforcing the laws fully and fairly, independent of politics. If they succeed in bringing that approach to the entire department, they just may save Trump and the country from his more destructive instincts. But only if Trump really wants it.