Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said Monday that it would be an “assault” on U.S. democracy is President Trump moved to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
“Firing Rod Rosenstein would be an assault on our democracy, a break the glass moment, and our own colleagues have promised that there would be a firestorm of condemnation that would hopefully persuade the president [that] he would be wrong,” Blumenthal told Hill.TV.
“My hope is that Republican colleagues rise to that challenge. Certainly, on our side, the denunciation would be loud and clear, he continued.
Blumenthal’s comments come ahead of a Thursday meeting between President Trump and Rosenstein that could determine the future of his post overseeing the federal probe into Russian election meddling. – READ MORE
[divider][/divider]President Donald Trump and U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees the special counsel investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 presidential election, will meet on Thursday to discuss whether Rosenstein will stay in his job.
Rosenstein had spent the weekend contemplating whether he should resign after a New York Times report last week said he had suggested secretly recording Trump in 2017, a source told Reuters.
The White House announced the meeting on Monday after a flurry of conflicting media reports about whether Rosenstein, a frequent target of Trump’s anger, would be leaving the post.
“At the request of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, he and President Trump had an extended conversation to discuss the recent news stories,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said on Twitter.
The Rosenstein furor, kicked off by unconfirmed reports that he had verbally resigned, underscored the mounting tension in the White House over the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller into Russia’s role in the 2016 presidential election.
There had been widespread speculation that Trump would fire Rosenstein since Friday when a New York Times report said that in 2017 Rosenstein had suggested secretly recording the president and recruiting Cabinet members to invoke a constitutional amendment to remove him from office.
The Times said none of those proposals came to fruition. Rosenstein denied the report as “inaccurate and factually incorrect.” – READ MORE
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