Trump, deputy AG to meet
Democrats concerned that Rosenstein’s job might be in jeopardy
President Donald J. Trump is to meet Thursday with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, whose job is in jeopardy following a report that he once discussed constitutional means to remove Trump and the possibility of secretly recording the president.
Rosenstein’s precarious status alarmed congressional Democrats because he oversees the investigation into possible collusion between Russians and Trump associates during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Any termination or resignation would have immediate implications for special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe. Rosenstein, the former U.S. attorney for Maryland, appointed Mueller and manages his investigation into Russian election meddling.
“Mr. Rosenstein’s removal would plunge our nation into uncharted territory and pose a serious and profound threat to the continued work of the Special Counsel,” said Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the Baltimore Democrat.
Cummings called on the Republican leadership of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee — of which he is the top-ranking Democrat — to convene an emergency hearing if Rosenstein is forced out. Rosenstein Rosenstein once predicted he might not last long in D.C. NEWS PG 6
Rosenstein had been Maryland’s U.S. attorney for 12 years when he left his office in Baltimore to serve as the No. 2 to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Sessions ordinarily would have overseen the Russia investigation but recused himself because of his close involvement in the Trump campaign.
Moveon.org, the liberal political organizing group, is planning nationwide protests — including in Baltimore and Annapolis — if Rosenstein or Mueller is fired. The demonstrations would feature the slogan “Nobody is above the law.”
“The fear is Trump would try to get rid of Rosenstein as a way of getting rid of Mueller,” said David Rodwin, a Baltimore activist and attorney helping to coordinate the local response as part of a citizens’ group called Indivisible Baltimore.
“I think it’s important that people come out in the streets. People get an energy from coming together — a sense of their own power,” Rodwin said.
Rosenstein’s tenure was imperiled after a report Friday by The New York Times that he discussed invoking the 25th amendment, which outlines a method to remove an unfit chief executive
Rosenstein said the report was not accurate. The Justice Department released a separate statement from an official who said he recalled the recording comment but that it was meant sarcastically.
Rosenstein and Trump, who is in New York for a U.N. meeting, had an extended conversation to discuss the recent news stories, said White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
On Monday, Rosenstein was captured by photographers leaving the White House after meetings there. Rosenstein was led out by chief of staff John Kelly amid reports he had offered to resign.
“Because the president is at the United Nations General Assembly and has a full schedule with leaders from around the world, they will meet on Thursday when the president returns to Washington, D.C.,” Sanders said.
It’s unclear what will happen Thursday. That is also the day that the Senate Judiciary Committee is to publicly hear from Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and a woman — university professor Christine Blasey Ford — who has accused him of sexual assault.
As of Sunday, Trump said he had not decided what to do about Rosenstein. He After Attorney General Jeff Sessions, left, recused himself, Rod Rosenstein took over oversight of the Mueller probe. angrily asked confidants, both inside and outside the White House, how to respond. He received mixed messages. Some urged him to fire Rosenstein. Others suggested restraint while seeing if the report was incorrect or if it was planted by some adversary.
Congressional Republicans, Democrats and some Trump aides have warned for months that the president shouldn’t fire Rosenstein, saying such a move could lead to impeachment proceedings if the Democrats retake the House in November’s midterm election.
“If President Trump forces out Mr. Rosenstein — regardless of how it happens — the American people deserve a full and complete accounting of these actions, and the Oversight Committee should hold an immediate emergency hearing with Mr. Rosenstein, obtain all the emails and other correspondence from the White House and Justice Department, and start conducting transcribed interviews and depositions about this decision,” Cummings said in a written statement.
Were Rosenstein to be forced out, Solicitor General Noel Francisco, the highest-ranking Senate-confirmed official below Rosenstein in the Justice Department, would be in line to oversee the Mueller investigation. A spokesman for Mueller declined to comment.
Francisco was an associate counsel to former President George W. Bush and a partner at Jones Day, a large law firm that once represented Trump’s campaign.
Before he went to Washington to serve in the Trump administration, former Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein predicted he might not last very long.
In his February 2017 farewell remarks, Rosenstein told a meeting of Baltimore criminal justice leaders that he’d determined the median tenure for the country’s deputy attorney general was just 14 months.
“I don’t know how long I’ll be in this job in Washington,” he told them on Feb. 7, 2017, prompting laughter.
Rosenstein had been U.S. Attorney for Maryland for 12 years when he left his office in Baltimore to serve as the No. 2 to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Rosenstein’s tenure was uncertain Monday, with the White House saying President Trump would meet with him Thursday.
If he resigns or is fired this week, it would end a tumultuous period of service during which he attracted the ire of the president for overseeing Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible Russian collusion in the 2016 presidential election.
Rosenstein’s possible departure comes after a report Friday that he had discussed the possibility of secretly recording the president and of invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump. Other reports said the comments were made in jest.
Rosenstein served as the top federal prosecutor in Maryland from 2005 to 2017. He was hailed for building strong partnerships with local law enforcement agencies and winning major cases against gang members, politicians, police and corrections officers.
Though Trump reportedly fumed that Rosenstein was a “Democrat from Baltimore,” Rosenstein is a Republican who was known in heavily Democratic Maryland as an apolitical operator. He was appointed by President George W. Bush and kept on by President Barack Obama.
Rosenstein’s legacy continues in the Maryland federal prosecutors’ office — his successor, Robert K. Hur, served as an assistant U.S. Attorney under Rosenstein for seven years and had followed him to the Justice Department last year to serve as one of his top aides. Hur took office as U.S. Attorney for Maryland in April.
At the meeting of local criminal justice leaders last year, Rosenstein told them their jobs are to “instill fear” in criminals.
“None of us like sending people to prison. Unfortunately, that's our job,” he said. “We have to find a way to reassure honest, law-abiding people — but we do need to deter the criminals causing problems in our communities.”
Pointing to a steady decrease in homicides and shootings in Baltimore during most of his tenure, Rosenstein said authorities in the city had driven down crime because they worked together, cut arrests and focused on violent repeat offenders.
“Obviously, something went dramatically wrong in 2015,” Rosenstein said.
In the weeks that followed, as he awaited confirmation from the Senate for his new post, Rosenstein announced major indictments against members of the Baltimore Police Department’s corrupt Gun Trace Task Force on racketeering charges, as well as a drug crew responsible for the long-unsolved killing of 3-year-old McKenzie Elliott.
Eight police officers were convicted in the gun task force case, which exposed a brazen unit committing robberies and regularly lying in court paperwork.
The drug case against a Waverly crew linked to McKenzie’s death is pending. Rosenstein took a picture of McKenzie with him to Washington.
“I know most people in this room didn't vote for the current president. It’s quite possible nobody in this room voted for the current president,” Rosenstein told Baltiimore’s now defunct Criminal Justice Coordinating Council at the meeting last year. “To me, this is not a political issue. This is about saving lives and making communities safe.”