President Donald Trump has turned his frustration with the Russia probe toward Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in recent weeks, even suggesting he fire the Justice Department official, CNN reported Friday night.
Trump’s advisers have so far managed to convince Trump not to fire Rosenstein, according to CNN.
Rosenstein is just one of many top Justice Department and FBI officials that Trump has become angry with or considered ousting. The CNN report on Trump’s inclination to fire Rosenstein helps paint a picture of a president obsessed with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into his campaign and hell-bent on minimizing its damage.
Trump fired FBI Director James Comey back in May out of anger over the Russia probes. He was frustrated with Attorney General Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from the Russia probe, which led to Rosenstein’s appointment of Mueller to lead the investigation. Trump’s public humiliation of Sessions prompted the attorney general to offer his resignation, though Trump ultimately kept Sessions on.
The President ordered the ouster of Mueller over the summer, but backed off when White House Counsel Don McGahn threatened to resign. The Trump administration has also pressured the new FBI director to fire certain top officials in the bureau, including deputy director Andrew McCabe.
Despite the revelations that Trump ordered Mueller’s firing, Republicans in Congress do not seem eager to to put legislation in place to protect the special counsel.
Trump is angry again. The sun came up. Water is wet. – sigh – Just another day.
Pick a Jew. Any Jew.
Once again this proves that not having a White House pet this time around was a good, humane decision.
So has Rosenstein been deposed by Mueller’s team? Because if he’s fired he’ll be in front of a grand jury about 30 seconds later.
Totally agree. I nominate a polar bear.