Firing Rosenstein now would look like obstruction, Washington Post reporter says
Firing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein could pose a threat to President Donald Trump, particularly as the politically tenuous nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court has been delayed pending a re-opened FBI investigation into his past.
Greg Miller, a national security correspondent for the Washington Post, and part of a team of reporters that won the Pulitzer Prize this year for its coverage of the Russia probe, said Monday that the delay in Kavanaugh's confirmation could force Mr. Trump to push back his meeting with Rosenstein (originally scheduled for last Thursday but delayed due to the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings) for another week.
The president had called the meeting after Rosenstein was reported to have suggested recording the president in secret, and to have discussed whether Mr. Trump could be removed from office under the 25th Amendment. Rosenstein denies that happened.
When asked what may happen to Rosenstein, Miller told "CBS This Morning" that it's "a big question with big implications. I think it would be hard politically to fire Rosenstein ahead of the elections, in part because you'll end up looking like, again, you're impeding an investigation, which is what the Republicans are up against even in the Kavanaugh hearings right now. How far they are willing to let the FBI go to do its work there? How could they do that twice leading up to an election?
"It seems dangerous, but then with Trump, you never know. [Rosenstein] could be out with a tweet before we know it."
Mueller's probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election (which Rosenstein oversees) is the focus of Miller's new book, "The Apprentice: Trump, Russia, and the Subversion of American Democracy" (HarperCollins).
In his book, Miller writes how Rosenstein was one to keep a low profile, but was pulled into the spotlight by President Trump over the firing of FBI Director James Comey.
"He's not a guy who likes the spotlight very much but he has taken it in key moments during this whole saga," Miller said. "The White House, when Trump decides he's going to fire Comey, they hang that decision on Rod Rosenstein. They have him write a memo explaining the rationale. Rosenstein somehow is just caught off-guard, doesn't see that coming. When he submits that memo, he doesn't see how he's being set up. And that animates him, angers him, motivates him."
Rosenstein would appoint a special counsel to conduct the investigation, and decided on former FBI Director Bob Mueller to lead it.
Mueller has kept a tight lid on what he has uncovered in his probe, beyond what has been spelled out in a series of indictments and guilty pleas relating to election interference, money laundering, and lying to investigators, among other charges.
When asked what he thinks the special counsel is focusing on, Miller replied, "Obviously he's very, very focused on the obstruction front. And his interest in these figures around Trump, including Trump's fixer and lawyer (Michael Cohen), are ways to get at that question. And his deal with Manafort takes him much closer to figuring out, is there collusion? Is there a deal?"
- Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen cooperating with Robert Mueller (CBS News, 09/20/18)
- Paul Manafort trial verdict: Guilty on 8 counts (CBS News, 08/21/18)
- Paul Manafort will cooperate with special counsel (CBS News, 09/14/18)
Also key to the question of Trump's legal exposure is his finances and business interests, including foreign sources of funds. Miller said, "His finances have always been sort of really opaque, but the closer you look at them, the more troubling they can seem. There is a lot of money coming from unknown sources, a lot of weird changes in direction in his financial empire over the years, including going from somebody who believed in borrowing heavily for everything he did, to suddenly paying cash for everything, with no real clear sense for where all that money came from."
He says imagines Mueller also has Mr. Trump's tax returns, which the president withheld from releasing throughout his campaign. "We don't know for sure, but he can get tax returns pretty easily. I think he has a lot more than tax returns. I mean, he is dealing with Trump's CFO (Allen Weisselberg) now, and getting lots of information."
- Trump administration is least transparent admin. in decades, ethics experts say ("CBS Evening News," 04/17/17)
- Allen Weisselberg, the man who knows Trump's financial secrets, agrees to become a coöperating witness (The New Yorker, 08/24/18)
"The Apprentice" also explores the similarities and stark differences between Mr. Trump and Mueller, and the key differences in their leadership styles.
"When you look back at their backgrounds, you just couldn't find two more contrasting individuals," Miller said, pointing out Mr. Trump sought and received five deferments from the draft during the Vietnam War, while Mueller served a tour in the Marines and was given two awards for valor.
"I thought this was fascinating, and spent a great deal of time in the book talking about it. Because Trump is known as a bully from the very beginning, from his grade school days, liked picking on people, liked making people uncomfortable, liked even picking on teachers and making them uncomfortable. Set up a tanning booth in his dorm room, just doing crazy stuff.
"Mueller has this code that emerges very early on in his life, and there is a scene in the book where I write about – he's at a lunch in his prep school, somebody is getting picked on who is not able to defend themselves, and he cuts off the conversation and walks out of the room. He won't stand for that kind of behavior.
"You just sort of see it as violent conflict and clash of ideas and approaches to life and codes between Mueller and Trump."
"The Apprentice: Trump, Russia, and the Subversion of American Democracy" by Greg Miller (HarperCollins), in Hardcover, Large Print Trade Paperback, Audio and eBook formats, available via Amazon