DOJ Emails Reveal Internal Response to ‘Wiretap’ Allegations Against Rosenstein

Epoch Times:

Newly released emails by the Department of Justice (DOJ) reveal details about the internal response by the agency to allegations that then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had wanted to wiretap President Donald Trump and invoke the 25th Amendment against him.

The allegations were first reported by The New York Times in September 2018. The article, headlined “Rod Rosenstein Suggested Secretly Recording Trump and Discussed 25th Amendment,” claimed that the “deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, suggested last year that he secretly record President Trump in the White House to expose the chaos consuming the administration, and he discussed recruiting Cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Mr. Trump from office for being unfit.”

The New York Times article included a response statement from Rosenstein, who refuted the story, calling it “inaccurate and factually incorrect”:

“The New York Times’s story is inaccurate and factually incorrect … I will not further comment on a story based on anonymous sources who are obviously biased against the department and are advancing their own personal agenda. But let me be clear about this: Based on my personal dealings with the president, there is no basis to invoke the 25th Amendment.”

The New York Times article also noted that a Justice Department spokeswoman had provided the newspaper with a statement from a “person who was present when Mr. Rosenstein proposed wearing a wire” but did not directly quote the statement, noting only that the “person, who would not be named, acknowledged the remark but said Mr. Rosenstein made it sarcastically.”

The Times article claimed that “according to the others who described his comments, Mr. Rosenstein not only confirmed that he was serious about the idea but also followed up by suggesting that other F.B.I. officials who were interviewing to be the bureau’s director could also secretly record Mr. Trump.”

Released DOJ Emails Provide New Insight

The series of internal emails released by the DOJ on Sept. 5 reveals the preparation of the response by the DOJ and Rosenstein to the pending story from The New York Times. Most of the emails are dated Sept. 20, 2018, and took place the evening prior to the publication of The New York Times article. There are significant redactions, but a number of important details are nevertheless contained within the release.

Included in the email chain are a number of DOJ officials, along with DOJ spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores. One of those included later in the email chain was Matthew Whitaker, then chief of staff to Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Whitaker would be named as acting attorney general just over two months later.

It appears that the first contact from the New York Times reporters with DOJ officials occurred on Sept. 20, 2018, at 3:47 p.m. via email. One of the reporters, Adam Goldman, told the DOJ that “Mike Schmidt and I are preparing a story on deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein. We have learned the follow[ing] things below. We’d like a response later this afternoon. Please give a shout if you have any questions. Many thanks, Adam and Mike.”

The email included claims from McCabe that Rosenstein had suggested wearing a wire and that both Rosenstein and McCabe had discussed “using the 25th Amendment to remove President Trump.”

The request from Goldman set off a flurry of activity within the DOJ, and by 7:28 p.m. that evening, it appeared that a formal response had been crafted. Associate Attorney General Bradley Weisenheimer wrote to Flores and Edward O’Callaghan, the principal deputy assistant attorney general of the National Security Division, noting that Rosenstein was “good” with his statement. The email also noted that Rosenstein was “also good with a background statement from Scott in the manner you described.” MORE Here.

SNIP: Associate Attorney General Bradley Weisenheimer???