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Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein suggested to colleagues at the Justice Department last year to secretly record conversations with President Donald Trump at the White House, but at least one person present said he was joking.
The conversation was first reported by the New York Times, which featured second-hand accounts suggesting that Rosenstein was serious about the proposal. The report indicates that he also referred to the identification of cabinet members wishing to invoke the 25th amendment, which provides for the removal of a president unfit to perform his duties.
The person who was in the room when Rosenstein commented on the port of the wire said he had never intended to record a conversation with the president. The person asked not to be identified.
Rosenstein challenged the Times' report of comments, which he reported a few weeks after becoming Deputy Attorney General and being caught in the tumult of the dismissal of FBI Director, James Comey, by Trump.
"Absolutely False"
"I have never prosecuted or authorized the registration of the president and any suggestion I have ever advocated for the dismissal of the president is absolutely false," he said in a statement released on Friday. evening.
In a statement to the Times earlier, Rosenstein called the article "inaccurate and factually incorrect".
"I will not comment further on a story based on anonymous sources that are obviously biased against the department and advance their own personal agenda," he told The Times. "But let me be clear about this: on the basis of my personal relationships with the president, there is no reason to invoke the 25th amendment."
The report is explosive because Rosenstein has appointed Special Adviser Robert Mueller. If Rosenstein is fired or resigned, a successor could limit or end the investigation into Russian electoral interference that the president has long denounced as a "witch hunt" initiated by anti-Trump forces at the FBI and the ministry of Justice.
Schumer warning
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer quickly warned Trump against seizing the report as a reason for dismissing Rosenstein.
"This story should not be used as a pretext for the corrupt purpose of sending Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein to install an official who will allow the President to interfere in the Special Advisor's investigation," Schumer said in a statement. He added that many "White House and cabinet officials said they criticized the president without being fired."
The White House declined to comment immediately, but the president's son, Donald Trump Jr., tweeted: "Shocked !!! Absolutely shocked !!! Ohhh, are we joking at this point? Nobody is shocked that these guys are doing everything in their power to undermine @realDonaldTrump. "
Republican Representative Jim Jordan, who was one of the most critical lawmakers on the Russia inquiry, said the new report does not mean he and other Conservatives will renew their pressure for the dismissal of Rosenstein.
"We do not know if Rosenstein is telling the truth or if the New York Times is wrong," he said. But the member of the Judiciary Committee said "this indicates how the highest levels of the FBI and the Department of Justice were in disarray".
Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican who also sits on the Judiciary Committee, said in a statement that the panel should hold a hearing on Rosenstein "to verify the truth".
The Times said some of the notes capturing Rosenstein's comments had been written by Andrew McCabe, who was director of the FBI at the time and was then fired then linked to Hillary Clinton.
"Andrew McCabe has written memos to commemorate important discussions he has had with senior officials and has preserved them so that he has accurate and up-to-date account of these discussions," said Michael Bromwich, counsel for McCabe.
"When he was questioned by the Special Council more than a year ago, he handed over all his notes – classified and unclassified – to the Special Council Bureau. A series of these notes remained in the FBI when he left at the end of January 2018. He does not know how the media got those grades, "said Bromwich.
Some Conservative Republicans critical of Rosenstein were cautious in saying they would trust the allegations in McCabe's memos, which was even more often the target of their conviction.
"Andy McCabe is under investigation for lying to the FBI. His words and memos must be viewed with extreme skepticism, "said Mark Meadows of North Carolina, who heads the House's Subcommittee on Government Operations, in a tweet. "But if this story is true, it highlights a deeply troubling culture at FBI / DOJ and the need for full transparency. Declassify everything. Let the Americans judge.
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