More to the point, the manner in which Trump fired Comey led directly to the special counsel. Trump had made the decision and then instructed Rosenstein to produce the bogus rationale for it (Comey's botched handling of the Hillary Clinton email probe). Trump then blithely conceded on national television that the real reason was Comey's handling of the Russia probe. He was either unaware that this might be a problem, or didn't care, because, well, you can take the rule of law and shove it. All this unleashed a tirade of criticism arguing that Rosenstein, having helped provide a cover story for Trump (which Trump himself then blew up), is too compromised to oversee the continuing FBI probe. This surely helped bring about the special counsel's appointment — and Trump authored it.