Trump’s Attorneys Want ‘Pause’ For Review Of Mueller Probe If Rosenstein Leaves

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As confusion reigned over whether Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein was resigning or being fired Monday, President Trump’s personal attorneys pushed for a “time out”  on special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, which Rosenstein currently oversees.

“If in fact Rod Rosenstein does end up resigning today,” Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow said on his radio show Monday, “I think it clearly becomes necessary and appropriate, for whoever the person who is put in charge of this … I think it’s really important that there be a step back taken here, and a review, a review that has to be thorough and complete.”

He called for a”time out” on the inquiry, and said that the person who takes over oversight of Mueller’s inquiry needs to look at “all of these allegations that are both surrounding this inquiry and that initiated this inquiry,” including the Trump-Russia dossier that was compiled by an ex-British spy, as well as the appointment of Mueller.

Sekulow’s comments were first picked up by the Daily Beast.

“I think this is pause time,” Sekulow said.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who is also representing the President in a personal capacity, told the Daily Beast he backed Sekulow in calling for a pause in the Mueller probe.

By early afternoon, it became clear that Rosenstein wasn’t leaving the Justice Department just yet. He will meet with President Trump, who is in New York Monday, on Thursday.

Sekulow didn’t respond to TPM’s inquiry.

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