Ex-FBI Official Says Rod Rosenstein Has ‘Stockholm Syndrome’: He’s Been ‘Beaten and Abused’
Reacting to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s resignation letter in which he warmly embraced President Trump following years of the president and his allies publicly excoriating him, MSNBC analyst Frank Figliuzzi likened Rosenstein to a hostage who has grown sympathetic to his captors, adding that the outgoing deputy attorney general has been “beaten and abused.”
During a Deadline: White House panel discussion on Rosenstein’s resignation announcement, host Nicolle Wallace pointed out that Rosenstein thanked Trump not only for the “opportunity to serve” but “for the courtesy and humor you often display in our personal conversations and the goals you set in your inaugural address.” Adding that Rosenstein also recently quoted Trump on the rule of law, Wallace contrasted this with the numerous times Trump personally attacked Rosenstein on Twitter and reports that he had been brought to tears multiple times by the president’s actions and behavior.
After Wallace and MSNBC legal analyst Berit Berger discussed how Rosenstein was possibly in an “untenable situation” but will still end up with his “legacy in the air” because he made a “lot of really questionable decisions,” the MSNBC host turned to Figliuzzi, a former FBI Assistant Director for Counterintelligence, for his take.
“Stockholm syndrome,” he said. “Hostage negotiators will tell you they study this phenomenon of people held captive and abused where they start aligning their thoughts and start agreeing with their captors.”
Figliuzzi continued: “It looks like Rod Rosenstein, I think, he’s got Stockholm syndrome, he’s been beaten and abused and he’s essentially given up. There’s a best-case scenario here where he’s simply trying to restore the public’s trust and confidence in the Department of Justice by saying these glowing things about the attorney general and the president and how great his tenure has been and how safer America has been.”
He went on to say Rosenstein, however, is “deluding the public” because he can’t defend any of the data he included in his resignation letter, claiming the Trump administration has not shown any concerns about election integrity.
“I don’t know where he’s going but we’re going to see him testifying on the Hill and he’s going to look like a deer in the headlights,” Figliuzzi concluded.
Watch the clip above, via MSNBC.
