Hanging by a thread, 53-year-old Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein, second in command at the Justice Department, looks likely to get the ax sometime this week. When the New York Times reported last week that Rosenstein once spoke out loud about recording President Donald Trump’s phone calls and filing charges under the 25th Amendment to remove him from office, his days were numbered. Rosenstein’s comments go to the heart of Special Counsel Robert Muller’s investigation, looking into alleged collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and the Kremlin. It was, after all, Rosenstein, who, under authority of Justice Department chief Jeff Sessions, appointed Mueller Special Counsel May 17, 2018. Rosentein got Sessions to recuse himself March 2, 2017 from the Russian investigation, opening the door to Rosenstein appointing Mueller Special Counsel.
After secret wiretapped conversations proved Sessions had spoke with former U.S. Russian Amb. Sergei Kislyak during-and-after the 2016 campaign, Sessions was pressured by Rosenstein to recuse himself March 2, 2017 from the Russian probe. Trump says he has no attorney general because Sessions ceded control of the Russian probe to Rosenstein, who, in turn, appointed Special Counsel Robert Mueller. When you consider Rosenstein harbored such negative opinions about Trump, it makes you wonder about his decision to appoint a Special Counsel. Trump has called the investigation a witch hunt because Mueller had no basis for concluding that anyone in Trump’s campaign colluded with the Russians to win the 2016 election. Yet Rosenstein pressed ahead with the Special Counsel to continue former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s narrative that Trump was a “Putin puppet.”
Democrats and some Republicans in Congress have warned Trump about firing either Rosenstein or Mueller, pushing the narrative that Trump was obstructing justice. That’s the same argument used when Trump fired former FBI Director James Comey, who became a Democrat hero for investigating Trump. Democrats once blamed Comey for sabotaging Hillary’s election, opening up her email investigation 10 days before the Nov. 8, 2016 presidential election. Democrats often point to Mueller’s success prosecuting Trump campaign officials, despite the fact that he has not found Russian collusion or collaboration. When you consider the chain-of-command during the 2016 presidential campaign for investigating Trump and associates, it looks like it goes from former President Barack Obama to his Atty. Gen. Loretta Lynch, to former FBI Director James Comey to National Security Advisr Susan Rice.
All members in the chain helped Hillary defeat Trump by pushing a narrative that Trump was in bed with the Russians. When you consider the Obama administration under Comey got warrants from the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act [FISA] Court to spy on Trump campaign officials, it links Rosesstein as part of the “Deep State” trying to defeat Trump. Other high-ranking FBI officials like Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and Special Agent Peter Strzok already lost their jobs because of documented bias against Trump. With Rosenstein now embarrassed over the same charge of political bias, it makes you question the entire Mueller investigation. No matter how much Democrats or the media despises Trump, that facts-are-the-facts when it comes to extreme political bias against Trump. Trump wants to release all the DOJ and FBI documents related to wiretapping his campaign.
Rosenstein first denied the New York Times report that he said he wanted to tap Trump’s phones and pursue removal from office under the 25th Amendment. Rosenstein called the NY Times report “inaccurate and factually incorrect,” not denying that he made the remarks about wiretapping Trump’s phones or declaring Trump unfit for office. Rosenstein looks part of the same conspiracy at the Department of Justice and FBI seeking in the 2016 campaign to help Hillary get elected. It’s inconceivable that the FBI, DOJ and NSA would all act without Obama’s blessings, making the former president at the heart of the government’s spying on Trump. Former National Security Adviser Gen. Michael Flynn was the first to plead guilty to perjury, denying he talked during-and-after the campaign to Russian officials. Delays in Flynn’s sentencing suggests his case might get tossed out.
Slated to meet with Trump Thursday, it’s growing more likely that Rosenstein will resign or get fired. When you consider former Trump foreign policy aid Carter Page, who was subject to a FISA warrant-and-wiretap was never charged, it’s possible that other Special Counsel convictions, largely for lying to FBI agents, will get tossed out. Page was never charged with anything because he did nothing wrong, despite the target of an FBI investigation. If Rosenstein resigns or is fired, it’s going to raise the legitimacy of Mueller’s investigation especially any past convictions. “There is nothing more important to the integrity of law enforcement and the rule of law than protecting the investigation of Special Counsel [Robert] Mueller,” said McCabe. McCabe lost his job for breaking FBI rules, working behind-the-scenes to exonerate Hillary and make sure that Trump never got elected president.
