Rosenstein agrees to private meeting with House lawmakers
Questions surround deputy attorney general’s alleged secret recordings
WASHINGTON — Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has agreed to speak privately with lawmakers following reports that he had discussed secretly recording President Donald Trump.
A person familiar with the situation said Rosenstein agreed to the meeting during a call Thursday evening with the House Judiciary Committee chairman, Rep. Bob Goodlatte. The Virginia Republican said Friday he was working out details with the Justice Department for a closeddoor session.
“There are many questions we have for Mr. Rosenstein, including questions about allegations made against him in a recent news article,” Goodlatte said in a statement. “We need to get to the bottom of these very serious claims.”
GOP Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina, who leads the conservative House Freedom Caucus, tweeted Friday that Republican leaders agreed to ask Rosenstein for a private meeting and said lawmakers would subpoena Rosenstein if he refused to answer questions. He said the goal of the questioning was to make Rosenstein “explain his alleged comments on ‘wiring’ POTUS — as well as other inconsistent statements.”
But the person familiar with the situation said Rosenstein had agreed to a meeting in upcoming weeks even before that tweet. The person said the conversation with lawmakers was not described to Rosenstein as a hearing or an interview. Rosenstein is also to meet next week with Trump.
Rep. Jerry Nadler, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said that he would demand that House Speaker Paul Ryan grant Democrats access to that meeting.
He called the meeting with Rosenstein part of a Republican effort to undermine special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential election.
Rosenstein appointed Mueller as special counsel and oversees that investigation.
Rosenstein headed to the White House on Monday with the expectation that he would be fired. Instead, the White House said he would meet on Thursday with Trump. That meeting was postponed until sometime next week.