NATION MEMOS SAY DEPUTY A.G. SPOKE OF TAPING TRUMP

Memos by Andrew McCabe, then the acting FBI director, say Rod Rosenstein suggested he secretly record his talks with President Donald Trump and discussed possibly trying to remove Trump from office.

WASHINGTON» Memos written by Andrew McCabe, then the acting FBI director, say Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein suggested that he secretly record his talks with President Donald Trump, and that Rosenstein discussed possibly trying to remove him from office, according to people familiar with the matter.

The account — first reported by The New York Times — paints Rosenstein as so concerned in May 2017 in the wake of Trump’s firing of thenFBI Director James Comey that he contemplated secretly recording conversations with the president. He also initiated discussions about invoking the 25th Amendment, which details how the Cabinet can decide whether a president is no longer able to discharge the duties of the job, one of the McCabe memos said.

McCabe was fired this year, and a grand jury is weighing possible charges against him for allegedly misleading investigators in a leak probe.

McCabe’s lawyer, Michael Bromwich, said in a statement that McCabe “drafted memos to memorialize significant discussions he had with highlevel officials and preserved them so he would have an accurate, contemporaneous record of those discussions. When he was interviewed by the special counsel more than a year ago, he gave all of his memos — classified and unclassified — to the special counsel’s office. A set of those memos remained at the FBI at the time of his departure in late January 2018. He has no knowledge of how any member of the media obtained those memos.” Rosenstein denied the account. “The New York Times’ story is inaccurate and factually incorrect,” Rosenstein said. “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.”