Deputy AG Rosenstein spoke of possible secret Trump taping
One attendee says DOJ official was just being sarcastic
WASHINGTON — Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein discussed secretly recording President Donald Trump last year amid law enforcement concerns about chaos in the White House, according to people familiar with exchanges at the time. But one person who was present said Rosenstein was just being sarcastic.
Rosenstein’s comments were first reported by The New York Times, which also said that he raised the idea of using the 25th Amendment to remove Trump as unfit for office.
The reports create even greater uncertainty for Rosenstein in his position at a time when Trump has lambasted Justice Department leadership.
The reported conversation about possibly secretly recording the president took place at a tense May 2017 meeting during the tumultuous period that followed Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey, a decision that upset many rankand-file bureau agents.
Friday’s reports threatened to cloud Rosenstein’s fate at the Justice Department, with some conservatives calling for him to be fired. Any dismissal could affect special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe; Rosenstein still oversees Mueller’s work.
It was difficult amid the conflicting accounts to discern the precise context for his comments and how they were intended.
The DOJ, for instance, released an email from one attendee who said Rosenstein’s “statement was sarcastic and was never discussed with any intention of recording a conversation with the president.”
Rosenstein himself called the Times story “inaccurate and factually incorrect.”
“I will not further comment on a story based on anonymous sources who are obviously biased against the department . ... But let me be clear about this: Based on my personal dealings with the president, there is no basis to invoke the 25th Amendment.”