Firing Deputy AG Rosenstein Constitutes The Crossing Of A Red Line
FRED WERTHEIMER’S WEEKLY NOTE | APRIL 12, 2018
“For all practical purposes, the firing of Rosenstein would have the same result as firing Mueller, and constitutes the crossing of a red line.”
President Trump is off on another Twitter tear this week attacking Special Counsel Robert Mueller and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, with a focus – courtesy of Trump’s PR firm, Fox News – on firing Rosenstein.
This has been motivated in part by two developments: the lawful FBI search warrant recently executed against Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen, and the coming book tour of former FBI Director James Comey.
As he said at the time, Trump fired Comey to take off the “great pressure” of the Russia investigation. He is now clearly concerned about the public case Comey will make against him. The President’s firing of Comey apparently triggered an obstruction of justice investigation by the Special Counsel.
Now, Trump is threatening to double down on obstruction with an orchestrated campaign to use if he decides to fire Rosenstein. His amanuensis on Capitol Hill, House Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes, is threatening Rosenstein with impeachment. His press agent on Fox News, Sean Hannity, just used his Fox News show as a vehicle for arguing that Rosenstein should be fired.
There are no grounds for removing Rosenstein from his position.
By firing Rosenstein, however, Trump can put one of his operatives in the job, which includes overseeing the Special Counsel office, and shut down his own investigation.
Thus, for all practical purposes, the firing of Rosenstein would have the same result as firing Mueller, and constitutes the crossing of a red line.
An army of citizens across the country stands ready to protest if this happens. This will be accompanied by a nationwide grassroots lobbying campaign to pressure the House Judiciary Committee to begin bipartisan hearings on Trump’s obstruction of justice and abuse of power. The campaign will also pressure the Senate to create a Watergate-style Senate Select Committee to examine all of the issues involved here.
Citizens will not stand by and allow Trump to kill the Special Counsel investigation and emasculate the rule of law.
We are, and will remain, a government of laws and not of men.
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Fred Wertheimer is the Founder and President of Democracy 21, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works to strengthen our democracy and ensure the integrity and fairness of government decisions and elections.
