Trump summons Rosenstein
Implication may be ominous for deputy attorney general
WASHINGTON – Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s fate remained in doubt Monday as President Donald Trump scheduled a meeting with Rosenstein to discuss his tenure Thursday.
The uncertainty about Rosenstein arose after The New York Times report- ed Friday that he discussed invoking the 25th Amendment last year to remove Trump from office while raising the prospect of wearing a wire to gather evidence of the president’s erratic behavior.
“I look forward to meeting with Rod at that time,” Trump said in New York where he attended a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders announced Thursday’s meeting during a day of fast-moving developments in which Rosenstein’s status was unclear for hours after being summoned for a meeting at the White House with chief of staff John Kelly.
Rosenstein returned to the Depart-
ment of Justice early Monday afternoon – his status unchanged, at least for now.
“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.
Rosenstein suggested invoking the 25th Amendment against Trump in spring 2017, when the White House had been plunged into chaos after the firing of FBI Director James Comey, according to a story published Friday in The New York Times.
In meetings with about a half-dozen other top Justice and FBI officials, Rosenstein proposed wearing a recording device in encounters with Trump to gather evidence of his conduct, the Times reported.
The discussions were recorded in memos written by one of the meeting participants, then-acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, the Times said.
Rosenstein denied the Times account.
Rosenstein’s fate could affect the future of the investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. That inquiry is led by Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller, who was appointed by Rosenstein and whose work is managed by the deputy attorney general.
According to the Justice Department, Solicitor General Noel Francisco would be in line to assume management of the investigation if Rosenstein was dismissed.
Though some Trump allies have demanded Rosenstein’s removal, his dismissal would almost certainly generate condemnation from lawmakers suspicious that the president’s real goal was to fire Mueller.
Trump said over the weekend that he was awaiting “facts” before deciding what to do with Rosenstein.
Days earlier, Trump revived his feud with Attorney General Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from overseeing the Russia inquiry.
In an interview with Hill.TV last week, Trump lamented, “I don’t have an attorney general. It’s very sad.”
Trump has long criticized Rosenstein, in large part because he appointed Mueller to investigate whether there were any links between the Trump presidential campaign and Russians who sought to interfere in the elections.
Rosenstein has the authority to fire Mueller but consistently voiced strong support for his work.
In a statement Friday, Rosenstein said the Times story was “inaccurate and factually incorrect.”
He said that based on his personal dealings with Trump, “there is no basis to invoke the 25th Amendment.”
That amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1967, created a legal mechanism for designating a head of state when the president is disabled or dead.
The amendment formalized the historical practice for the vice president to permanently take over if the president dies or resigns and gives the president and Congress shared power to replace a vice president.
After Comey’s dismissal in May 2017, Rosenstein appointed Mueller as special counsel in charge of the Russia investigation, a decision Trump has criticized in the 16 months since.
Trump’s anger at Rosenstein and Mueller flared anew April 9 after prosecutors raided the office and home of the president’s private attorney, Michael Cohen.
Though the U.S. attorney’s office in New York carried out the raid, it was based in part on a referral by Mueller’s office.
The president regarded the raid as a violation of his right to attorney-client privilege.
Trump and aides noted that Rosenstein signed off on the search warrant regarding Cohen.
Some congressional Republicans, such as Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, urged Trump to fire Rosenstein, arguing that the deputy attorney general failed to provide documents in a timely matter related to lawmakers’ investigation of the FBI’s conduct in the Russia inquiry.
Other Republicans said they didn’t expect Trump would take steps to remove Rosenstein or Mueller.
“I am confident that that would be the beginning of the end of his presidency, and he’s not going to do that,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said in April.
Then came Friday’s news reports.