Zero Hedge
May 11, 2017
Two days after Trump’s termination of James Comey, more details about the circumstances of Comey’s departure continue to emerge and the most dramatic highlight from this morning’s news wrap comes from the WaPo, which reports that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein – the man who was instrumental in arranging Comey’s termination – may not stay at the DOJ much longer.
Recall that on Tuesday afternoon the White House released a memo written by the Deputy AG, which contained Rosenstein’s recommendation to sack Comey citing the FBI director’s handling of the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private server as a reason for Comey’s dismissal. However, critics say the 52-year-old Harvard graduate, with a reputation as straight-shooting and non-partisan, has been sucked into providing cover for Trump to push Comey out.
The details from WaPo are as follows:
Trump told Vice President Pence and several senior aides — Reince Priebus, Stephen K. Bannon and Donald McGahn, among others — that he was ready to move on Comey. First, though, he wanted to talk with Attorney General Jeff Sessions, his trusted confidant, and Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, to whom Comey reported directly. Trump summoned the two of them to the White House for a meeting, according to a person close to the White House.
The president already had decided to fire Comey, according to this person. But in the meeting, several White House officials said Trump gave Sessions and Rosenstein a directive: to explain in writing the case against Comey. The pair quickly fulfilled the boss’s orders, and the next day Trump fired Comey.
Recall that Rosenstein was overseeing the FBI’s probe into election interference because his own boss, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, has recused himself from it after a row over contacts with the Russian ambassador to the US.
And…