Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein did not threaten to quit his job over the White House’s handling of the firing of FBI Director James Comey, contrary to a report from The Washington Post.
Asked by Sinclair Broadcast Group reporter Michelle Macaluso whether he plans to leave his job, Rosenstein responded: “no, I’m not quitting.”
“Did you threaten to quit?” Macaluso asked Rosenstein as he was leaving a meeting with members of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
“No,” responded Rosenstein, who took office on April 26 and is overseeing the Justice Department’s Russia probe.
The White House cast Rosenstein as a key figure in President Trump’s decision to fire Comey earlier this week. Rosenstein wrote a letter blasting Comey for his handling of the Clinton email investigation. But ironically given Trump’s position on Clinton, Rosenstein faulted Comey for being unfair to the Democratic presidential nominee.
Few observers bought the White House spin that Trump fired Comey because of the recommendation from Rosenstein. Indeed, Trump himself acknowledged during an interview that aired Thursday that he planned to fire Comey regardless of the Justice Department’s recommendation.
The Washington Post reported, citing anonymous sources, that “Rosenstein threatened to resign after the narrative emerging from the White House on Tuesday evening cast him as a prime mover of the decision to fire Comey.”
Two Justice Department officials disputed The Post’s reporting earlier on Thursday.
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