Rosenstein and Wray: We’re not angry nor are we Democrats

FBI Director Christopher Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein insisted on Thursday that they are neither “angry” nor Democrats.

Pressed by Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-Ill.) at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on whether either considers himself a Democrat, Wray and Rosenstein rejected such a notion.

{mosads}”I’m trying to do this job apolitically,” Wray told Gutierrez. “I do not consider myself an angry Democrat. You can be quite confident of that.”

“Are you a Democrat?” Gutiérrez asked.

“No, I am not,” Wray replied. 

Gutiérrez then turned to Rosenstein and asked whether he is a Democrat.

“I’m not a Democrat and I’m not angry,” Rosenstein said. 

.@RepGutierrez: “Are you a Democrat?”

FBI Director Wray: “No, I am not.”

Gutierrez: “Mr. Rosenstein, are you a Democrat?”

Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein: “I’m not a Democrat and I’m not angry.” pic.twitter.com/bxEab0H8FY

— CSPAN (@cspan) June 28, 2018

Both Rosenstein and Wray are registered to vote as Republicans. 

The exchange on Thursday made reference to President Trump’s repeated claim that “13 angry Democrats” are among the investigators on special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russia’s election meddling, including possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Neither Rosenstein nor Wray are actually working on the special counsel’s investigation, but it was the deputy attorney general that appointed Mueller to lead the probe last year after Trump fired then-FBI Director James Comey.

Trump has publicly fumed about Mueller’s investigation and has reportedly privately complained about Rosenstein’s decision to appoint the special counsel. According to a December report in The Washington Post, Trump privately complained about Rosenstein being “a Democrat.”