By David Mark & Daniel Chaitin Washington Examiner
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is expected to leave the Justice Department in mid-March.
Rosensteins departure was largely expected with last weeks Senate confirmation of President Trump attorney general nominee William Barr. New attorney generals usually have at least some say in selection of deputy attorney general whose office largely runs the Justice Department on a daily basis.
A Justice Department official told CNN the planned exit has nothing to do with the explosive revelations by former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe over the past couple days and that Rosenstein always intended to leave after helping with the transition for his successor.
DOJ spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment but in January a DOJ source confirmed to the Washington Examiner that Rosenstein was expected to depart within weeks after serving for about two years.
Rosenstein a former U.S. attorney for Maryland had been in the crosshairs since virtually the start of the Trump administration. Thats because early on Rosenstein took oversight of the Russia probe over whether Russian elements aided Trumps upset win in 2016 against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
Trumps first attorney general Jeff Sessions recused himself from any role in the investigation due to his campaign role while a senator from Alabama.
Trump became incensed over Rosensteins May 2017 decision to appoint Special Counsel Robert Mueller to head the Russia probe. That came after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey. Rosenstein then oversaw the special counsels investigation.
Scrutiny of Rosenstein hit another high note this week as McCabe embarked on a media tour to promote his new book The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump due out on Tuesday.
Speaking with CBS News 60 Minutes McCabe confirmed reports that Rosenstein told Justice Department officials about wearing a wire" to record conversations with Trump and that he had discussed invoking the 25th Amendment against the president to remove him from office in the days after Comey was fired. McCabe briefly served as acting FBI director after Comey was pushed out.
The Justice Department responded to McCabes 60 Minutes interview claiming his version of events was inaccurate and factually incorrect.
Rosenstein previously denied past reporting that said those discussions took place while sources told NBC News that he was only joking about secretly recording the president. After Rosenstein strongly denied the assertions last fall his relationship with Trump remained strained for months. However the pair appeared to have something of a rapprochement as the months wore on.
That may have ended on Sunday when Trump accused McCabe and Rosenstein of planning to carry out an illegal and treasonous plan against him.
Many congressional Democrats too have had their issues with Rosenstein. They blamed Rosenstein for offering written justification from the Justice Department for Comeys firing. Yet Democrats also at times praised Rosenstein for upholding the integrity of the Mueller probe in the face of what they called overt efforts to interfere by Trump and his supporters.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham R-S.C. said this weekend he wants both Rosenstein and McCabe to be brought in for testimony to answer for McCabes claims. At least one key Trump ally Rep. Mark Meadows R-N.C. called on Rosenstein to not only testify but also to immediately resign if the reports proved true.
McCabe was fired on March 16 2018 less than two days before he planned to retire on his 50th birthday and collect a full pension after the Justice Departments Office of the Inspector General determined that he misled investigators about the role he had in leaking information to the Wall Street Journal in October 2016 about the investigation into the Clinton Foundation. In April it was revealed that the Justice Department IG had referred its findings to the U.S. attorneys office in Washington for possible criminal charges while McCabe is mulling whether to sue the government to get his pension back.
