FBI memo details acts behind scenes

WASHINGTON — The former acting FBI director, Andrew G. McCabe, wrote a confidential memo last spring recounting a conversation that offered significant behind-the-scenes details on the firing of McCabe’s predecessor, James B. Comey, according to several people familiar with the discussion.

Comey’s firing is a central focus of the special counsel’s investigation into whether President Donald Trump tried to obstruct the investigation into his campaign’s ties to Russia. McCabe has turned over his memo to the special counsel, Robert Mueller.

In the document, whose contents have not been previously reported, McCabe described a conversation at the Justice Department with the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, in the chaotic days last May after Comey’s abrupt firing. Rosenstein played a key role in the dismissal, writing a memo that rebuked Comey over his handling of an investigation into Hillary Clinton.

But in the meeting at the Justice Department, Rosenstein added a new detail: He said the president had originally asked him to reference Russia in his memo, the people familiar with the conversation said. Rosenstein did not elaborate on what Trump had wanted him to say.

To McCabe, that seemed like possible evidence that Comey’s firing was actually related to the FBI’s investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia, and that Rosenstein helped provide a cover story by writing about the Clinton investigation.

One person who was briefed on Rosenstein’s conversation with the president said Trump had simply wanted Rosenstein to mention that he was not personally under investigation in the Russia inquiry. Rosenstein said it was unnecessary and did not include such a reference. Trump ultimately said it himself when announcing the firing.

McCabe’s memo, one of several that he wrote, highlights the conflicting roles that Rosenstein plays in the case. He supervises the special counsel investigation and has told colleagues that protecting it is among his highest priorities.

But many current and former law enforcement officials are suspicious of some of his other actions, including allowing some of Trump’s congressional allies to view crucial documents from the investigation.

In conversations with prosecutors, Trump’s lawyers have cited Rosenstein’s involvement in the firing of Comey as proof that it was not an effort to obstruct justice, according to people familiar with the president’s legal strategy.

That argument has only made Rosenstein’s position even more peculiar as he oversees an investigation into the president.

FILE 2017 Andrew McCabe, while acting director of the FBI, wrote a confidential memo on Comey’s firing.