FBI/JAMES COMEY/MEDIA/RUSSIA INVESTIGATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Rod Rosenstein and his allies furiously pushed back Friday [9-21-18] against a bombshell New York Times report that the deputy attorney general considered wearing a wire to record President Donald Trump during a tumultuous period last year after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey. According to the report, Rosenstein was upset when Trump used a memo he’d written to justify firing Comey, and the deputy attorney general also suggested recruiting Cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment process to remove the president. Rosenstein dismissed the report as ‘inaccurate and factually incorrect,’ while his allies — including some who heard the comments in question — insisted they were made in jest…Apparently buffeted by criticism that his earlier denial was too vague, Rosenstein later Friday issued a more strident statement, 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 report, however, is sure to fuel calls by Trump’s Republican allies to oust Rosenstein. They have accused him of slow-walking their investigation of FBI agents they believe are biased against Trump, although Democrats say their GOP counterparts are merely trying to undermine special counsel Robert Mueller, who reports to Rosenstein on his probe into Russian election interference and whether the Trump campaign aided the Kremlin.”
-Kyle Cheney and Darren Samuelsohn, “DOJ’s Rosenstein, allies deny he considered secretly recording Trump,” Politico, September 21, 2018 6:58 pm