Paper: Rosenstein talked about taping, ousting Trump
WASHINGTON — Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein discussed secretly recording President Donald Trump last year amid law enforcement concerns about chaos in the White House, according to people familiar with exchanges at the time. But one person who was present said Rosenstein was just being sarcastic.
Rosenstein’s comments were first reported by The New York Times, which also said that he had raised the idea of using the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office for unfitness.
The reported conversation about possibly secretly recording the president took place at a tense May 2017 meeting during the tumultuous period that followed Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey.
Among the participants at the meeting was Andrew Mccabe, the FBI official who was temporarily elevated to director after Comey’s firing and who documented conversations with senior officials, including Rosenstein, in memos that have been provided to special counsel Robert Mueller as part of his Trump-russia investigation.
The Justice Department released an email from one attendee at the meeting who said Rosenstein’s “statement was sarcastic and was never discussed with any intention of recording a conversation with the president.”
Rosenstein himself called the Times story “inaccurate and factually incorrect.”
“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.”
Trump, for his part, ignored questions shouted from reporters as he arrived for an evening rally in Springfield, Missouri. The White House did not respond to questions about Rosenstein’s reported remarks.