Deputy Attorney General whose recommendation led to Comey's firing 'threatened to resign' Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein reportedly upset that the White House pinned him as the reason for the Comey firing
The Justice Department official whose recommendation has been cast as the main reason why President Donald Trump decided to fire FBI director James Comey, reportedly threatened to resign.
According to one report, Mr Trump had long questioned Mr Comey’s loyalty and judgment, and was unhappy by what he viewed as the director’s lack of action on leaks from within the federal government. Mr Trump officially decided to dismiss Mr Comey based on comments from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, according to documents released by the White House.
In a memo to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Mr Rosenstein said he could not defend Mr Comey’s “refusal to accept the nearly universal judgment that he was mistaken” in the way he handled an investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was Secretary of State.
But the Washington Post said Mr Rosenstein was deeply upset about taking the blame for the president's decision and threatened to quit. ABC News also reported that Mr Rosenstein was on the verge of resigning, upset that the White House had pinned him as the reason for the Comey firing.
On Capitol Hill, Vice President Mike Pence said that when Mr Rosenstein “brought the recommendation to the president that the director of the FBI should be removed, President Trump provided the kind of strong and decisive leadership the American people have become to be accustomed from him”.
Rosenstein Pressed White House to Correct the Record on Comey Firing
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein pressed White House counsel Don McGahn to correct what he felt was an inaccurate White House depiction of the events surrounding FBI Director James Comey’s firing, according to a person familiar with the conversation.
Mr. Rosenstein left the impression that he couldn’t work in an environment where facts weren’t accurately reported, the person said. The deputy attorney general objected to statements by White House aides citing Mr. Rosenstein’s critical assessment of Mr.Comey’s job performance to justify the firing.
20 attorneys general call for independent probe into Russia
A group of 20 attorneys general is calling for the appointment of an independent special counsel to continue the investigation into Russian interference in last year’s presidential election.
The group led by Democratic Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey called President Donald Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey during the ongoing investigation a “violation of public trust” in a letter sent Thursday to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
The group said in the letter that only the appointment of an independent special counsel “with full powers and resources,” can begin to restore public confidence.
Those signing the letter include the attorneys general of
California Connecticut Delaware The District of Columbia Hawaii Iowa Illinois Maine Maryland Minnesota New Mexico New York North Carolina Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island Virginia Vermont Washington
Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigations were in Annapolis Thursday to investigate an organization with offices in the vicinity of Main Street, a spokesperson for the bureau confirmed.
Media reports on Twitter linked the site of the activity to the address of a Republican fundraising and consulting firm. FBI officials wouldn't confirm whether their investigation was linked to the organization.
FBI spokeswoman Lindsay Ram said the investigation is being conducted through the bureau's Washington field office, which has jurisdiction in Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia. She said agents from the office sometimes cross over into other jurisdictions when the entity they are investigating has offices in multiple locations.
The White House said Thursday that removing FBI Director James Comey from his post may hasten the agency's investigation into Russian meddling. "We want this to come to its conclusion, we want it to come to its conclusion with integrity," said deputy press secretary Sarah Sanders, referring to the FBI's probe into Moscow's interference in last year's election. "And we think that we've actually, by removing Director Comey, taken steps to make that happen."
ACLU Takes Legal Action Over Trump Election Commission Executive Order
The American Civil Liberties Union took legal action today related to President Trump’s new executive order establishing a “Presidential Commission on Election Integrity.” The ACLU filed a Freedom of Information Act “FOIA” request seeking information that the Trump administration is using as the basis for its voter fraud claims. The commission vice chair is Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, whom the American Civil Liberties Union has successfully sued numerous times over voter suppression policies.
Dale Ho, director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, had this reaction to the executive order:
“President Trump is attempting to spread his own fake news about election integrity. Such claims have been widely debunked, but he is still trying to push his false reality on the American public. It is telling that the president’s choice to co-lead the commission is none other than Kris Kobach, one of the worst offenders of voter suppression in the nation today. If the Trump administration really cares about election integrity, it will divulge its supposed evidence before embarking on this commission boondoggle.”
Anyone got a decent summary article about Trump and Russia? It's a story that seems to not go away and gets worse, but I don't know where to begin to catch up with what's going on.
Grumpy David wrote:Anyone got a decent summary article about Trump and Russia? It's a story that seems to not go away and gets worse, but I don't know where to begin to catch up with what's going on.
Grumpy David wrote:Anyone got a decent summary article about Trump and Russia? It's a story that seems to not go away and gets worse, but I don't know where to begin to catch up with what's going on.
BTW he's wrong about the electoral college stuff - Democrats have been denied the Presidency due to the electoral college system, even though they won the popular vote. Both Bush and Trump benefited from it, winning the Presidency without the popular vote. When Democrats won the Presidency, they also won the popular vote.
If Trump manages to last a whole 4 years without going mental or being kicked out it will be quite an achievement. I'm honestly at a loss as to how his supporters can look at what he's done and be pleased, at some point even they must realise Trump's a pile of shite. I'd also love to ask the presenters at Fox news what they think their reaction would have been had the election been won by Hillary and She had done exactly the same things Trump has done as they would be going strawberry floating bananas but then again these are the same people who say we need to drop the Russia investigation as it's a year old after they droned on about emails for years.