“Frantic, Nervous, Upset, Emotional” Rosenstein Was “Overwhelmed” During Comey Firing, Mueller Appointment
by Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge.com
Sat, 06/30/2018
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein was deeply conflicted about recommending that former FBI Director James Comey be fired, according to the New York Times, citing four people “familiar with his outbursts.”
In public, Mr. Rosenstein has shown no hint that he had second thoughts about his role — writing a memo about Mr. Comey’s performance that the White House used to justify firing him. “I wrote it. I believe it. I stand by it,” Mr. Rosenstein said to Congress last year.
But in meetings with law enforcement officials in the chaotic days immediately after Mr. Comey’s dismissal, and in subsequent conversations with colleagues and friends, Mr. Rosenstein appeared conflicted, according to the four people. -NYT
Rosenstein “alternately defended his involvement, expressed remorse at the tumult it unleashed, said the White House had manipulated him, fumed how the media had portrayed the events and said the full story would vindicate him,” according to the four people (familiar with his outbursts).
Another person familiar with Rosenstein’s state of mind during that time period said he sounded “frantic, nervous, upset and emotionally dis-regulated,” while becoming “visibly upset” with former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe at one point.
His public and private views demonstrate the dueling forces pulling at Mr. Rosenstein in the special counsel’s investigation of the president and his associates.
Mr. Rosenstein is both the ultimate supervisor of that case — and will determine what information is eventually provided to Congress — and a key participant in the matter being investigated. Mr. Trump’s lawyers also regard him as one of the essential witnesses for the president’s defense because Mr. Rosenstein, they say, wanted to get rid of Mr. Comey. -NYT
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