Feinstein: Kavanaugh misled about grand jury secrecy in Foster probe
“I don’t think it even comes close,” said Paul Rosenzweig, now with the think tank R Street Institute. “There’s lots of ways you can talk to press like you and guide you away from topics without invading grand jury secrecy.”
Rosenzweig noted that legal complaints over alleged leaks from Starr’s operation led to a federal appeals court ruling in 1999 that said grand jury secrecy covers only matters occurring in front of the grand jury or likely to occur there — and not issues like the general direction of the investigation or most activities undertaken by law enforcement agencies.
“What matters is what actually happens in front of the grand jury,” Rosenzweig said. “If I tell you the grand jury is not investigating something, that, by definition, is not something happening in front of the grand jury.”
The former Starr lawyer also noted that while Feinstein’s statement says Kavanaugh “instructed” Ewing to call Ruddy, Ewing was Kavanaugh’s boss.
“If you know Hick Ewing, you know no one was going to order him around, except maybe Judge Starr—and then only some of the time,” Rosenzweig quipped.
