Rosenstein denies he proposed secretly taping president in 2017
WASHINGTON — Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein suggested secretly recording President Donald Trump last year to expose chaos in the administration, according to two people familiar with the discussions. One of the people, who was present when the remarks were made, said Rosenstein was being sarcastic about wearing a “wire.”
The allegations were first reported by The New York Times, which also said Rosenstein floated the idea of using the 25th Amendment to remove Trump as unfit for office.
Rosenstein denied both allegations on Friday. He is a frequent target of Trump’s attacks and the story could add to the uncertainty about his future at the Justice Department, despite his denial.
“The New York Times’ story is inaccurate and factually incorrect,” Rosenstein said in a statement. “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. But let me be
clear about this: Based on my personal dealings with the president, there is no basis to invoke the 25th Amendment.”
The 25th Amendment to the Constitution spells out that a president can be declared “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office” upon a majority vote of the vice president and the Cabinet.
The Times cited several people, who were not named, who described episodes that came in the spring of 2017 after FBI Director James Comey was fired. The newspaper said its sources also included people who were briefed on memos written by FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.
The newspaper reported Rosenstein, frustrated with the hiring process for a new FBI director, offered to wear a “wire” and secretly record the president when he visited the White House. He also suggested McCabe and other officials interviewing to become the next FBI director could record Trump, the newspaper reported.
McCabe’s lawyer, Michael Bromwich, said in a statement that his client had drafted memos to “memorialize significant discussions he had with high level officials and preserved them so he would have an accurate, contemporaneous record of those discussions.”
McCabe’s memos, which later were turned over to special counsel Robert Mueller’s office, had remained at the FBI until McCabe was ousted in January, and McCabe doesn’t know how any reporters could’ve obtained those memos, Bromwich said.
Rosenstein has been a target of Trump’s ire since appointing Robert Mueller as a Justice Department special counsel to investigate potential coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential election.