President Trump said earlier this week that he doesn’t have an attorney general. But if a new New York Times report is to be believed, he doesn’t have a deputy attorney general he can trust either.
According to the authors, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who called for a special counsel to look into the Trump campaigns possible ties with Russian operatives, wanted to secretly record the president and use the audio as a means to removing him from office by utilizing the 25th Amendment.
Mr. Rosenstein made these suggestions in the spring of 2017 when Mr. Trump’s firing of James B. Comey as F.B.I. director plunged the White House into turmoil. Over the ensuing days, the president divulgedclassified intelligence to Russians in the Oval Office, and revelations emerged that Mr. Trump had asked Mr. Comey to pledge loyalty and end an investigation into a senior aide.
Mr. Rosenstein was just two weeks into his job. He had begun overseeing the Russia investigation and played a key role in the president’s dismissal of Mr. Comey by writing a memo critical of his handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation. But Mr. Rosenstein was caught off guard when Mr. Trump cited the memo in the firing, and he began telling people that hefeared he had been used.
Mr. Rosenstein made the remarks about secretly recording Mr. Trump and about the 25th Amendment in meetings and conversations with other Justice Department and F.B.I. officials. Several people described the episodes, insisting on anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. The people were briefed either on the events themselves or on memos written by F.B.I. officials, including Andrew G. McCabe, then the acting bureau director, that documented Mr. Rosenstein’s actions and comments.
Did we ever find out who wrote the anonymous op-ed? Kidding…sort of.
But like the op-ed, Rosenstein’s alleged ideas and statements on how to get Trump removed early in his presidency highlights the disarray and havoc Trump and his “Best People” running the show have created. Leading a career Justice employee searching for ways to cover his rear end when he thought Trump had used him.
Considering Trump’s paranoid temperament when it comes to the “Deep State,” one can only imagine how he’ll react to the Times’ story if he sees it. Of course, if he believes his own hype about the “failing New York Times” and their anonymously sourced “fake news” he won’t believe a word of it, right? Right??
For his part, Rosenstein flatly denies he ever said anything of the sort, as would be expected if he wants to have any hope to keep his job once the Mueller probe is concluded.
There’s one thing Pres. Trump and anyone else paying attention can be certain of, though, and that’s that there are clearly those within his administration actively working to undermine him.
https://redstate.com/prevaila/2018/09/19/whoa.-trump-says-doesnt-attorney-general
https://redstate.com/prevaila/2018/09/15/bob-woodward-says-found-no-evidence-collusion-trump-russia/
https://redstate.com/prevaila/2018/09/18/ted-cruz-big-beto-orourke-latest-texas-poll/
https://redstate.com/prevaila/2018/09/16/not-kavanaugh-not-withdraw-nomination-vote-go-forward/
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