Trump, Deputy AG Rosenstein differ on Comey memo.
Rosenstein says his criticism of FBI chief not meant for release
Despite President Trump’s repeated assertions that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s scathing memo provided the foundation for last week’s abrupt dismissal of FBI Director James Comey, the deputy attorney general told Congress on Friday that the document was not actually offered to justify the firing — nor was it meant to bemade public.
“My memorandum is not a statement of reasons to justify a for- cause termination,” Rosenstein told lawmakers, according to prepared remarks released by the Justice Department.
So far, this is Rosenstein’s most public rebuttal of the narrative the White House is pushing about Comey’s firing— which came as the FBI widened its investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the presidential election.
The three-page-memorandum Rosenstein prepared for Trump was sharply critical of Comey’s handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.
It was immediately released by the White House last week along with Comey’s termination letter.
In remarks to Senate and House members in separate closed sessions this week, the deputy attorney general acknowledged that he learned of Trump’s decision to remove Comey the day before he wrote and delivered his May 9 assessment about Comey’s conduct in the Clinton probe. Comey was fired later that day.
Even though Trump has said he would have fired Comey regardless of Justice Department recommendations, he is still citing Rosenstein and his memo specifically to bolster his justification. As recently as Thursday, at the same time Rosenstein was briefing the Senate, Trump in a White House press conference cited the deputy attorney general’s “very, very strong recommendation” as reasoning for Comey’s dismissal.
“Director Comey was very unpopular with most people,” Trump said during a news conference with Colombian President Juan Manual Santos. “I actually thought when I made that decision — and I also got a very, very strong recommendation, as you know, from the Deputy Attorney General, Rod Rosenstein. But when I made that decision, I actually thought that it would be a bipartisan decision.”
Trump’s version of the story took another hit Friday when The New York
Times reported that Trump described Comey as a “nut job” during a White House meeting last week with Russian officials.
Trump told the Russians, according to the report, that dismissing Comey meant the pressure of the FBI’s Russia probe has been “taken off.”
Even as Rosenstein insisted to lawmakers he didn’t lay the groundwork for Comey’s firing, he also noted that he and Attorney General Jeff Sessions first “discussed the need for new leadership at the FBI” late last year during an initial meeting with Sessions, as the then- attorney general nominee was forming a management team.
“Among the concerns that I recall were to restore the credibility of the FBI, respect the established authority of the Department of Justice, limit public statements and eliminate leaks,” Rosenstein said of that conversation.
In his written assessment of Comey, the deputy attorney general specifically took issue with Comey’s July 5 remarks to announce his agency’s recommendation that no criminal charges be brought against Clinton.
“I thought the July 5 press conference was profoundly wrong and unfair both to the Department of Justice and Secretary Clinton,” Rosenstein told lawmakers. “It guaranteed that some people would accuse the FBI of interfering in the election.”
Rosenstein this week announced the appointment of a special counsel, former FBI director Robert Mueller, to take over the Russia inquiry. The Washington Post reported Friday that a White House adviser close to the president — whose name was not included in the report — has been identified as a “person of interest” in the investigation.
Rosenstein’s account of Comey’s firing also comes as associates of the former FBI director have outlined Comey’s deep suspicion of Trump and the president’s repeated efforts to directly communicate with him as the Russia inquiry moved forward.
“My memorandum is not a statement of reasons to justify a for- cause termination.” Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein