Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has verbally resigned to Chief of Staff John Kelly out of anticipation President Donald Trump will fire him, it was reported Monday.
'He's expecting to be fired,' a source told Axios, which reported his firing.
The White House has accepted his resignation, a source told Bloomberg News.
Rosenstein is en route to the White House Monday morning to meet with Kelly. Trump is in New York for the U.N. General Assembly meeting.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein leaving his home Monday morning
Rosenstein was headed to White House to meet with Chief of Staff John Kelly
He denied a report in The New York Times last week that last year he suggested secretly recording the president to raise the possibility of invoking the 25th Amendment to remove him from office.
Noel Francisco, the solicitor general, is set to inherit Rosenstein's oversight role on Special Counsel Robert Mueller's expansive Russia probe.
The rest of Rosenstein's duties, however, will be passed to Attorney General Jeff Sessions' chief of staff, Matthew Whitaker, who will serve as acting deputy AG.
A federal law called the Vacancies Act directs the president to fill power vacuums in executive branch agencies when officials quit or die – at least until a Senate-confirmed replacement can take over.
Francisco brings pluses and minuses to the new role.
He was the one-man Supreme Court wrecking ball who persuaded the Supreme Court to uphold Trump's country-specific travel ban.
United States Solicitor General Noel Francisco would oversee the Russia probe
Department of Justice Chief of Staff Matt Whitaker (R) participates in a round table event in August; he would serve as acting deputy AG
But he also stood firm when Republicans in Congress threatened him with impeachment and removal for refusing to hand over Justice Department documents that lawmakers believed would cast doubt on the Mueller probe's origins and motives.
Francisco is also a former partner in the law firm Jones Day, which Trump retained for many years in his pre-political days.
Trump had not committed to a fate on Rosenstein one way or another when asked about it.
'I don't want to comment on it until I get all the facts,' Trump told Geraldo Rivera when asked about firing Rosenstein. 'I haven't gotten all the facts, but certainly it's being looked at in terms of what took place. If anything took place and I'll make a determination sometime later, but I don't have the facts.'
He also said it was Attorney General Jeff Sessions who hired Rosenstein.
'He was hired by Jeff Sessions. I was not involved in that process. They hire their own deputies and people who work in the department,' Trump said.
The president is in New York for meetings at the United Nations General Assembly. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, at a briefing for reporters, declined to answer questions on Rosenstein, saying check with the White House.
But officials in New York denied there have ever been any conversations about invoking the 25th amendment against the president.
'I have never been in the White House when conversations like that have happened. I'm not aware of any cabinet members even talking about that. It is completely and totally absurd. No one is questioning the president at all. If anything we're trying to keep up with him,' U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley said.
'No one discussed with me any conversations on the 25th amendment,' Pompeo added, 'so you can now say there are two senior administration officials that said your question is ludicrous.'
Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein departs the Supreme Court in April with his family, after arguing his first case before the court
US Ambassador Nikki Haley (R), Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (C) and national security adviser John Bolton (L) give a press briefing in New York
Democrats were quick to pounce.
'Saturday Night Massacres don't need to happen on a Saturday. If President Trump fires DAG Rod Rosenstein or forces his resignation, he will come one giant leap closer to directly meddling with the Special Counsel’s Russia investigation,' wrote Sen. Patrick Leahy on Twitter.
Saturday Night Massacre refers to a series of events on Saturday, October 20, 1973, during the Watergate scandal. Then-President Richard Nixon ordered Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire independent special prosecutor Archibald Cox; Richardson refused and resigned. Nixon then ordered Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus to fire Cox; Ruckelshaus refused and resigned. Nixon then ordered Solicitor General Robert Bork to fire Cox. Bork considered resigning, but did as Nixon asked.
The liberal leaning watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington pounced, raising the specter of improper interference by the president.
'[F]or the president to fire or force the resignation of a law enforcement official in order to derail an investigation into the president ... [would be] obstruction of justice, plain and simple,' the group's executive director Noah Bookbinder said in a statement.
He said that if Trump made a move to pink-slip Rosenstein, it 'must ultimately prove to be an unsuccessful effort to prevent a full investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and related obstruction of justice.'
On Friday night, Trump slammed the 'bad ones' in the Justice Department following reports Rosenstein wanted to wear a wire to secretly record the president and discussed invoking the 25th Amendment.
Speaking to a fired-up crowd at a rally in Missouri on Friday night, he said there was a 'lingering stench' in Justice 'and we're going to get rid of that'.
He was in Springfield supporting Republican Senate nominee Josh Hawley, who is running against two-term Democratic senator Claire McCaskill.
Hours after the New York Times broke the story, Trump said: 'Just look at what is being exposed in our Justice Department.
'We have great people in the Department of Justice. ... But you've got some real bad ones. You've seen what's happened at the FBI. They're all gone.
'But there's a lingering stench and we're going to get rid of that, too.'
President Trump slammed the 'bad ones' in the Justice Department following reports Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein wanted to wear a wire to secretly record the president
The audience also broke out in chants of 'Kavanaugh' as the Supreme Court nominee faces sexual assault allegations.
Trump defended his choice for the bench, saying: 'You talk about central casting, he was born for the U.S. Supreme Court. And it's going to happen.'
He added: 'We have to fight for him, not worry about the other side. And by the way, women are for that more than anybody would understand.'
Rosenstein suggested last year that he should make covert audio recordings of President Trump in order to build a case for removing him from office, according to the New York Times report.
Rosenstein disputed that account on Friday, and a Justice Department official who was reportedly in the room when Rosenstein talked about using the 25th Amendment to end the Trump presidency says he was being sarcastic.
He released a statement on Friday night saying: 'I never pursued or authorized recording the President and any suggestion that I have ever advocated for the removal of the President is absolutely false.'
The 25th Amendment allows for a majority of the president's cabinet, or 'such other body as Congress may by law provide,' to decide if an Oval Office occupant is unable to carry out his duties – and then to put it to a full congressional vote.
That account agrees with a Fox News report based on sources who were in the room and said the meeting took place May 16, 2017.
The Washington Post, too, cited a source who said Rosenstein's comment was biting but unserious.
Speaking to a fired-up crowd at a rally, he said there was a 'lingering stench' in Justice 'and we're going to get rid of that
In Trump's second rally in as many nights, he opened by telling the cheering crowd of thousands in Springfield that 'our country is respected again.'
He says that's because 'we are finally putting America first.'
Trump has been campaigning aggressively to help the Senate expand its narrow 51-49 majority in the Senate.
He went to Vegas on Thursday night to help Sen. Dean Heller, the only Republican seeking re-election in a state that Democrat Hillary Clinton won in 2016.
The reports about Rosenstein created even greater uncertainty for the deputy attorney general tenure at a time when Trump has lambasted Justice Department leadership and publicly humiliated both Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
More broadly, it's the latest revelation that could affect Mueller, the special counsel investigating possible coordination between Russia and Trump's presidential campaign in 2016. Sessions recused himself from that issue soon after he took office, to Trump's dismay, and Rosenstein then appointed Mueller.
With all that hanging in the air, Trump has resisted calls from conservative commentators to fire both Sessions and Rosenstein and appoint someone who would ride herd more closely on Mueller or dismiss him.
A number of key FBI officials, including director James Comey and deputy director Andrew McCabe, have been fired since Trump took office.
On Friday, Fox also reported that then-Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe and FBI lawyer Lisa Page were in the room when Rosenstein raised the subject.
Page had been half of the infamous texting romantic-affair couple who mused in 2016 about how to 'stop' Trump from becoming president.
Trump opened by telling the cheering crowd of thousands in Springfield that 'our country is respected again'
He says that the respect has been building because 'we are finally putting America first'
Trump has been campaigning aggressively to help the Senate expand its narrow 51-49 majority in the Senate
Rosenstein (pictured in July) suggested last year that he should make covert audio recordings of President Trump in order to build a case for removing him from office, according to a New York Times report
Rosenstein (pictured with Trump in May) disputed that account on Friday, and a Justice Department official who was reportedly in the room when Rosenstein talked about using the 25th Amendment to end the Trump presidency says he was being sarcastic
An Obama-era Justice Department spokesman suggested Friday afternoon that McCabe leaked the story to the Times.
'Dangerous game Andy McCabe is playing right now,' Matthew Miller tweeted.
Ari Fleischer, who was White House press secretary during the George W. Bush administration, lashed out separately at McCabe.
'This story reads like Andy McCabe trying to burn down the house he once lived in,' he tweeted.
'Looks to me like McCabe is trying to get revenge on those he used to work with, after they challenged his honesty and fired him.'
McCabe is himself facing a federal probe over allegations that he misled investigators about the sources of press leaks; Attorney General Jeff Sessions terminated his employment this year, just days before he was scheduled to retire with a full pension.
In the Post's telling, McCabe had proposed opening an investigation into the president after the firing of FBI Director James Comey.
'What do you want to do, Andy, wire the president?' Rosenstein chided him, according to one source.
Link hienalouca.com
https://hienalouca.com/2018/09/24/deputy-attorney-general-rod-rosenstein-resigns-before-trump-can-fire-him/
Main photo article Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has verbally resigned to Chief of Staff John Kelly out of anticipation President Donald Trump will fire him, it was reported Monday.
‘He’s expecting to be fired,’ a source told Axios, which reported his firing.
The White House has ...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves US News HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/09/24/16/509CA27F00000578-6202247-image-a-5_1537801411152.jpg
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