Recording Trump was raised
Plan facetious or serious?
NEW YORK: US deputy Attorneygeneral Rod Rosenstein, the steward of the special counsel investigation into Russian election interference, proposed wearing a wire to secretly record President Donald Trump last year to capture the chaos of his administration and ineptitude of his presidency, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said at the weekend.
However, the person — whose identity is known to the New York Daily News but spoke on condition of anonymity — said Rosenstein made the proposal facetiously in a meeting with law enforcement officials shortly after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey in May 2017.
‘‘I remember this meeting and remember the wire comment,’’ the source said. ‘‘The statement was sarcastic and was never discussed with any intention of recording a conversation with the president.’’
But several people who read memos about the meeting written by former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe disputed that assessment.
The sources told The New York Times Rosenstein raised the possibility of wearing a wire in the context of recruiting Cabinet officials to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office on the grounds he is mentally unfit to serve. Rosenstein was serious enough about the idea to propose that FBI officials being interviewed to succeed Comey should wear wires while meeting Trump, according to the sources.
At the time, Trump had made a number of questionable moves that raised eyebrows in the law enforcement community, including disclosing classified US intelligence to Russian government officials during a meeting in the Oval Office.
Rosenstein, who was just two weeks into his new job in overseeing the Russia investigation, was concerned by Trump’s behaviour and revelations he had asked Comey, before firing him, to pledge fealty and end an investigation into his national security adviser Michael Flynn, the sources said.
Rosenstein’s drastic discussions evidently did not materialise, but the sources said he told associates at the time he may be able to get Attorney General Jeff Sessions and thenHomeland Security Secretary John Kelly on board with invoking the 25th Amendment.
Rosenstein (53) vehemently denied the Times report, blasting it as ‘‘factually incorrect.’’
‘‘I will not further comment on a story based on anonymous sources who are obviously biased against the department and are advancing their own personal agenda,’’ Rosenstein said in a statement. ‘‘But let me be clear about this: Based on my personal dealings with the president, there is no basis to invoke the 25th Amendment.’’
Friday’s explosive revelations come amid widespread speculation Trump’s mental state is deteriorating. Bob Woodward’s book Fear paints the President as a reckless madman with the mental cognition of a ‘‘fifth or sixthgrader’’ and a senior administration official penned an anonymous essay earlier this month that alleged Cabinet members had weighed invoking the 25th Amendment.
Members of Trump’s rightwing base called for Rosenstein’s head after the latest development.
‘‘Rod Rosenstein must be fired today,’’ Fox News anchor Laura Ingraham tweeted at Trump.
Democrats warned the president against taking any action against Rosenstein, saying they would view it as yet another attempt to obstruct Mueller’s ongoing investigation.
‘‘This story must not be used as a pretext for the corrupt purpose of firing deputy attorney general Rosenstein in order install an official who will allow the president to interfere with the Special Counsel’s investigation,’’ Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, of New York, said. — TCA
❛ I remember
this meeting and remember the wire comment