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US-POLITICS-TRUMP
Trump would ‘prefer’ to keep top official in Russia probe, but no decision
yet
WASHINGTON, Sept 27, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Donald Trump said he would “prefer”
to keep his embattled deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein — who oversees
the Russia collusion probe — but that he might delay a politically risky
decision on the official’s fate originally expected for Thursday.
“I’d much prefer keeping Rod Rosenstein,” Trump told journalists in New
York on Wednesday.
However, Trump said that a meeting scheduled for Thursday at the White
House between him and Rosenstein might be put off, because of the focus on a
separate political drama over his Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh.
“I may call Rod tonight or tomorrow and ask for a little bit of a delay to
the meeting,” Trump said.
No meeting with Rosenstein appeared on the president’s schedule for
Thursday, which was released by the White House.
Doubts over how long Rosenstein can keep the job have been swirling since
shock US media reports that he once suggested secretly recording Trump to
collect evidence for ousting him under a constitutional amendment for
presidents unfit to remain in office.
This Monday, Rosenstein was widely rumored to be on the point of being
fired or handing in his resignation when he arrived for a meeting with the
White House chief of staff.
But in an unpredictable series of events, he emerged from the meeting with
his job intact and the White House announcing that Trump would see Rosenstein
in person Thursday after returning from the annual gathering of world leaders
at the United Nations.
Trump indicated Wednesday that Rosenstein — who has dismissed the media
reports as inaccurate — had gone a long way in persuading him.
“I’m talking to him. We’ve had a good talk. He said he never said it,”
Trump said. “He said he has a lot of respect for me.”
– The Russia question –
Quite apart from the lurid claims of backroom plotting, Rosenstein matters
because he plays a key role in overseeing the Russia investigation. Trump is
infuriated by what he says is Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s “witch hunt”
into whether Russia conspired with Trump’s campaign during his shock 2016
election win.
The president has frequently criticized Rosenstein, who has been steadfast
in trying to protect Mueller as the probe digs ever deeper into Trump’s inner
circle.
So Rosenstein’s departure — possibly putting someone more pliable in his
place — would set off alarm bells over the future independence of a probe
which has the potential to rock the entire Trump presidency.
Trump has made no secret of his readiness to take on what he sees as a
politicized, hostile Justice Department and FBI.
Just last Friday, Trump referred in a speech to supporters to a “lingering
stench” at the Justice Department that he would soon eradicate.
– Not before the elections? –
But if events would seem to point to Rosenstein being pushed out, both
Democrats and Trump’s Republicans have urged caution.
Even allies say that nothing should be done before the November midterm
congressional elections in six weeks, arguing that the ensuing row would fuel
expected Democratic momentum for making gains in the legislature.
If the Democrats overturn the current Republican majorities in the lower
house and even Senate, then aggressive committee investigations and even
calls for impeachment might follow.
Some speculate the Rosenstein story was planted to undermine both the
deputy attorney general and Mueller, giving Trump a legitimate excuse to do
what he’d wanted to do all along.
But amid ever deepening paranoia and partisan division in Washington,
others ask if the story wasn’t leaked to trap Trump, trying to bait him into
ousting the official — thereby plunging his administration into new
controversy.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 0950 hrs