Tensions continue to escalate between Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and President Trump, and it appears that Rosenstein has all but said his goodbyes.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is telling friends that he believes President Trump could bring the hammer down on him soon.
Rosenstein has been quoting Martin Luther, telling people, ‘Here I stand,’ in response to Trump’s taunting, a reference to theologian’s refusal to recant his beliefs, saying, ‘Here I stand, I can do no other.’
Martin Luther, huh?
Rosenstein sure does think highly of himself, doesn’t he?
Sources who spoke to NBC News say that Rosenstein has come to terms with what’s likely to be his fate — a firing from the president who appointed him.
Trump has been fuming at Rosenstein for months, most recently over the role he played in the raid on attorney Michael Cohen’s hotel room and office.
Rosenstein approved the search warrant that allowed the feds to root through and seize the president’s personal attorney’s property.
Which as you know… has a lot of people raising their eyebrows.
Agents are said to have been looking for information on a $130,000 payment that Cohen made to a porn actress who says she had an affair with the president and goes by the stage name of Stormy Daniels.
They were also said to have been looking for documents pertaining to an Access Hollywood tape that had Trump bragging about sexual assault over a hot mic.
Um… that seems like a misinterpretation of what he said. He said, “they LET you grab them by the…” LET implies consent. It’s trashy, but it’s not ASSAULT. I thought we’d been over this?
The president is upset with Rosenstein, among that and other reasons, for signing off on a surveillance application for former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
Trump has said the spying was a gross abuse of power by the Department of Justice, and that no one affiliated with his campaign colluded with Russia to meddle in the presidential election.
He raged against Rosenstein last week after the Cohen raid, although the White House was unwilling to confirm the following day that he was the high-level official who authorized the search warrant.
‘If you know the person who’s in charge of the investigation, you know about that. Deputy Rosenstein — Rod Rosenstein — he wrote the letter, very critical, of Comey,’ Trump said. ‘One of the things they said: “I fired Comey.” Well, I turned out to do the right thing.’
Trump said the legal assault on his attorney was ‘disgraceful’ and a total ‘witch hunt.’
And many agree.
Rosenstein was at the White House on Thursday with other DOJ officials to discuss document production to Congress, a spokesperson for Justice said.
The deputy attorney general had been seen walking out the North Portico door of the White House by a number of reporters.
Allies of the White House have been hammering Rosenstein on television in preparation for his dismissal, the Wall Street Journal reported, helping to make the case on air for Trump to fire him.
One source told the journal it’s ‘a matter of when, not if’ that Trump gives him a pink slip.
So… is it time to give Rosenstein the boot?