; Whereas Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein authored the initial memo outlining the scope of the investigation in May 2017; Whereas Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein then sent a subsequent memo modifying parameters of the investigation to Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III on August 2, 2017, and a heavily redacted version of the memo was made public; Whereas Mr. Rosenstein’s memo began by noting the following allegations were within the scope of the investigation at the time of your appointment and are within the scope of the order , with nearly everything following the mention of those initial allegations redacted; Whereas Mr. Rosenstein’s memo raises fundamental concerns related to the government’s basis for alleging collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, and whether these allegations resulted in potential crimes warranting investigation; Whereas Mr. Rosenstein’s memo also raises concerns given Special Counsel investigations are not warranted by the existence of mere allegations, and require there be facts evident warranting a criminal investigation of a person or matter ; Whereas the memo’s status as a classified document and lack of unredacted material raise concerns the appointment of Robert S. Mueller III as Special Counsel began outside the scope of regulations for Special Counsel investigations by originating on a counterintelligence, rather than criminal, basis; Whereas, on April 9, 2018, Representative Mark Meadows and Representative Jim Jordan sent a letter to the DOJ requesting access to the unredacted August 2 memo in order to better understand the scope of the investigation authorized by Mr. Rosenstein; Whereas, on April 30, 2018, the DOJ responded in a letter indicating that they would not provide the information to Congress, despite Congress’ oversight duty; Whereas Mr. Rosenstein approved a FISA application to surveil Carter Page