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Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein reportedly may resign or be fired on Monday, days afterThe New York Timespublished a bombshell report saying that the deputy attorney generalproposed secretly recordingTrump last year to expose the turmoil unfolding in the White House.
CNNalso reported that Rosenstein was expecting to be fired on Monday.
TheTimesreport said Rosenstein — who oversees Robert Mueller’s special counsel investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election — also discussed invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office for being unfit.
The White House did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
According to theTimesreport, Rosenstein, 53, made the proposals in the spring of 2017 after Trump’s controversial firing of then-FBI director James Comey.
“Over the ensuing days, the president divulged classified intelligence to Russians in the Oval Office, and revelations emerged that Mr. Trump had asked Mr. Comey to pledge loyalty and end an investigation into a senior aide,” theTimesreported.
It does not appear that any of Rosenstein’s suggestions were carried out, theTimessaid. But the newspaper noted that Rosenstein allegedly told McCabe that he might be able to convince Attorney General Jeff Sessions and John F. Kelly, then the secretary of homeland security and now the White House chief of staff, to go along with a plan to invoke the 25th Amendment.
Rosenstein previously disputed theTimes‘ report.
“The New York Times’story is inaccurate and factually incorrect,” he said in a statement to the newspaper. “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.”
A spokesman for McCabe, who was fired this year, declined to comment.
A Justice Department spokeswoman gave theTimesa statement from a person who said they’d heard Rosenstein suggest wearing a wire. The person, who was not named, said Rosenstein was being sarcastic when he made the remark.
Other sources said Rosenstein was serious about the idea and had also suggested that other FBI officials secretly record Trump, 72.
source: people.com
