Official portrait of Rod Rosenstein as Deputy Attorney General (Wikipedia Commons. Author: United States Department of Justice)
Donald Trump is reportedly weighing the possibility of firing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, according to CNN.
The president has grown increasingly frustrated with Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, and this development could simply be Trump’s way of attempting to check the special counsel. Trump — who previously said he was willing to sit down for an interview with the special counsel — attacked Mueller in a series of Tweets in March.
SLIDESHOW: DONALD TRUMP’S 30 CRAZIEST TWEETS
Trump was also furious upon learning that FBI agents raided his personal lawyer Michael Cohen’s office on Monday. The agents were reportedly seeking documents related to Cohen’s $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels — whom Trump had an affair with in 2006 — and to other matters, including affairs Trump allegedly had with other women. On Wednesday, it was revealed that the Cohen search was also an attempt to seize records pertaining to Trump’s infamous Access Hollywood tape. The tape, which surfaced in October 2016 — just weeks before the election — dated from 2005 and revealed Trump openly admitting to sexually assaulting several women while accompanied by Billy Bush on a bus.
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The president called the Cohen raid an “attack on our country.”
Several lawmakers from both the Democratic and Republican parties, as well as top White House advisers and aides, have warned Trump of the dangers of firing Mueller. According to CNN, Trump is also considering dismissing Attorney General Jeff Sessions, as the president has been upset with top officials from the Justice Department for quite some time. Trump claims the department’s officials have not helped him or protected him sufficiently from Mueller’s investigation.
Rosenstein wrote the memo that explained the reason behind the firing of former FBI Director James Comey in May 2017.
On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders did not explicitly state whether Trump has mentioned firing Rosenstein, Sessions or Mueller in recent days.
“I haven’t had any conversations with him on that,” said Sanders.
The press secretary added Trump believes he has the authority to fire Mueller if he wishes to.
Rosensten has been the Deputy Attorney General since April 2017.
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