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US deputy attorney general suggested taping Donald Trump over Russia probe: Report
Deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein has denied the story as “inaccurate and factually incorrect” in a statement that also blamed anonymous sources promoting personal agendas.
US deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein had reportedly suggested recording conversations with President Donald Trump and discussed trying to remove him from office on grounds of being unfit to discharge his duties.
He had made the suggestions in conversations with officials of the justice department and the FBI in the days after the firing of James Comey as FBI director in May 2017, The New York Times reported on Friday, based on interviews with officials briefed on these conversations or notes kept by officials including former acting director of the FBI Andy McCabe.
Rosenstein had played an important role in Comey’s firing and the White House had cited a note written by him as grounds for the president’s decision. The deputy AG was then new in the job and had been taken aback by being put front and centre of the firing, and was disappointed and angry about it.
He had suggested secretly recording conversations with Trump then, and initiating a move to have him removed through US Constitution’s 25th amendment that provides for the cabinet to remove the president for failing to perform his duties. He had believed he could persuade attorney general Jeff Sessions and then secretary of Department of Homeland Security John Kelly, who is now the president’s chief of staff.
In a statement, Rosenstein called the report “inaccurate and factually incorrect.”
“But let me be clear about this: Based on my personal dealings with the president, there is no basis to invoke the 25th Amendment,” he added.
He followed that up with a second statement, denying he ever suggested recording the president or advocating his removal.
But the revelations triggered speculation the president might use them to fire him.
Though a Trump nominee, Rosenstein has been in the president’s crosshairs mainly for appointing Robert Mueller as special counsel to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 elections and collusion, if any. Trump routinely attacks the probe as a “witch-hunt”.
