Washington – A spokeswoman for President Donald Trump is suggesting that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who wrote a memo justifying FBI Director James Comey’s firing, be selected to take over the Russia investigation.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
Appearing on NBC’s “Today” show, Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders calls Rosenstein a person “who sets the gold standard within the legal system.”
She also says “I am not aware” of reports he threatened to resign over the way the Comey dismissal was attributed in part to the memo he wrote. But Sanders also said the Trump White House isn’t trying to quash the investigation. “Any investigation that was taking place on Monday is still taking place today,” she said.
Democrats who are urging the naming of a special counsel argue this would be the best way to take politics out of the probe. Sanders said she thought Rosenstein, the No. 2 official at the Justice Department, was “a perfect example of what you would be looking for in terms of an independent person to come in and helm this investigation.”
I’ve gotten some information which may be more current than this report, but holding one’s breath and waiting a few hours or days for the dust to settle is probably the best course.
The source says that Rosenstein’s threat to resign stands currently, and is not ‘water under the bridge’.
The source says that Rosenstein’s letter criticizing Comey, that Trump claimed was the basis of his action, was ordered by no one other than Trump himself. According to the source, Trump had ordered Rosenstein to present what a hypothetical written ‘argument’ against Comey would be. This would be very different from Rosenstein’s own opinion of Comey, or Rosenstein’s opinion of whether the written argument was conclusive.
Looks like we have more days of drama ahead.