The so-called Nunes memo — an effort by House Re

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The so-called Nunes memo — an effort by House Republicans to cast aspersions on the Russia investigation — evidently singles out Rosenstein for criticism.

The memo, which may be released soon, suggests that he was wrong to extend a wiretap on Carter Page, a Trump campaign adviser.

The details are complicated, and you can dig into them in The Times’s coverage. The short version: There is no evidence that Rosenstein made a mistake. Page, after all, has had the kind of contact with the Russian government that should interest F.B.I. investigators.

Instead of evidence, the memo engages in the same dark and misleading conspiracy theories that have characterized other efforts by President Trump’s allies to discredit the Russia investigation.

But the substance of the claims isn’t really the point. Distraction is the point, and the distraction campaign is having an impact.

Fox News and some other parts of the Republican-friendly media spend hours repeating the conspiracies, and many voters now believe them. “The current moment is different from Watergate,” The Washington Post’s Greg Sargent wrote yesterday. “There is a massive propaganda apparatus out there — one that reaches deep into the right-wing media and into the Congress that has been pushing the alt-narrative.”

And Trump not only fired James Comey, the F.B.I. director once leading the inquiry, last year, but he has now succeeded in pushing out Andrew McCabe, the deputy F.B.I. director. In both cases, team Trump has justified the moves with dark, misleading suggestions of bias.

Now, it seems, team Trump is on the cusp of accelerating a whisper campaign against Rosenstein, who oversees Robert Mueller, the special counsel leading the Russia investigation.

In truth, Rosenstein is a Republican — appointed by Trump — who built up a strong reputation over years in the Justice Department. His biggest career blemish was his brief willingness last year to bend to White House pressure and give Trump cover for Comey’s firing.

Since then, though, Rosenstein has chosen to back the rule of law over the rule of Trump. Rosenstein not only appointed Mueller to take over the Russia investigation; he has also defended Mueller — another Republican with a strong bipartisan reputation — against the similar charges of bias.

The smearing of both men, like the smearing of Comey, is a ploy. At the least, it is meant to call into question the ultimate findings of the Russia investigation. At the worst, the smearing is meant to make it politically possible to replace one or both with Trump loyalists who don’t believe in the rule of law.

Related: House Republicans voted yesterday to release the Nunes memo, a move that Justice Department officials have called “extremely reckless.”

Tom Nichols, a Naval War College professor, wrote: “The memo itself is far less important than the fact that GOP Congressmen are now at war with our own law enforcement and intelligence community, something in a lifetime of being a Republican I never expected to see. This will end badly.”

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