Page 2 - aruba-today-20180922

A2 UP FRONT
Saturday 22 September 2018

AP sources: Rosenstein spoke of possible secret Trump taping

By MICHAEL BALSAMO and Bromwich, said in a state-
ERIC TUCKER ment that his client had
Associated Press drafted memos to "memo-
WASHINGTON (AP) — Dep- rialize significant discussions
uty Attorney General Rod he had with high level of-
Rosenstein floated the ficials and preserved them
idea of secretly recording so he would have an accu-
President Donald Trump rate, contemporaneous re-
last year amid law en- cord of those discussions."
forcement concerns about The statement did not ad-
chaos in the White House, dress the content of the
according to people famil- memos.
iar with exchanges at the Rosenstein has been a
time. But one person who target of Trump's ire since
was present said Rosenstein appointing Mueller as a
was just being sarcastic. Justice Department spe-
The comments were first cial counsel to investigate
reported by The New York potential coordination
Times, which also said that between Russia and the
Rosenstein raised the idea Trump campaign during
of using the 25th Amend- the 2016 presidential elec-
ment to remove Trump as tion. He chose Mueller for
unfit for office. The report, In this July 13, 2018, file photo, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein speaks during a news the job one week after he
which Rosenstein denied, conference at the Department of Justice in Washington. laid the groundwork for
creates even greater un- Associated Press the firing of Comey by writ-
certainty for him in his posi- ing a memo that criticized
tion at a time when Trump Russia investigation. on my personal dealings the revelation that Comey Comey's handling of the
has lambasted Justice De- The interactions lay bare with the president, there is had kept memos about his FBI's investigation into Hill-
partment leadership and the conflicts within the FBI no basis to invoke the 25th interactions with the presi- ary Clinton's email server.
publicly humiliated both and Justice Department Amendment." dent, while McCabe want- The White House initially
him and Attorney General early in the Trump adminis- The 25th Amendment to ed a more aggressive ap- held up that memo as jus-
Jeff Sessions. tration after Rosenstein, just the Constitution spells out proach toward the White tification for Comey's firing,
The reported conversation weeks into his job, wrote a that a president can be House, the person said. though Trump himself has
took place during a tense memo about Comey that declared "unable to dis- At that point, Rosenstein said he was thinking about
May 2017 meeting involv- the White House used as charge the powers and said to McCabe something "this Russia thing" when he
ing acting FBI Director An- justification for firing the FBI duties of his office" upon to the effect of, "What do made the move.
drew McCabe, another director. a majority vote of the vice you want, you want me to As deputy attorney general,
frequent target of Trump's In a statement, Rosenstein president and the Cabinet. wear a wire?" according to Rosenstein oversees Muel-
wrath. McCabe was tem- called the Times story "inac- One of the people briefed the person. Rosenstein was ler's work and has made
porarily elevated after Di- curate and factually incor- on the conversation in then asked in the meeting two public announcements
rector James Comey was rect." question said it occurred if he was serious, and he of indictments brought by
fired, but was himself fired "I will not further comment during a moment of frus- said yes, but he thought the special counsel — one
this year. McCabe docu- on a story based on anon- tration between McCabe the question he was re- against Russians accused
mented conversations with ymous sources who are and Rosenstein. The per- sponding to referred to of hacking into Democratic
senior officials, including obviously biased against son spoke on condition of something else and he did email accounts, the other
Trump, in a series of memos the department and are anonymity because of the not mean for the wire com- against Russians accused
that have since been pro- advancing their own per- confidential nature of the ment to be taken seriously, of running a social media
vided to special counsel sonal agenda. But let me conversation. the person said. troll farm to sway public
Robert Mueller as part of his be clear about this: Based Rosenstein was rankled by McCabe's lawyer, Michael opinion.q