Last Friday the New York Times published a bombshell report alleging that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein floated the idea of secretly recording conversations with President Donald Trump in 2017, and also proposed the possibility of removing Trump from office by invoking the 25th Amendment. Interestingly, their prior “bombshell” op-ed anonymously published by a “member of the resistance inside the Trump administration” said that “Given the instability many witnessed, there were early whispers within the cabinet of invoking the 25th Amendment.”

Whoever wrote that op-ed is anyone’s guess, but it is interesting that both Rosenstein and this anonymous writer both discussed invoking the 25th to get rid of Trump.

Rosenstein’s comments about recording Trump came after the firing of James Comey – which was followed by Rosenstein authorizing Robert Mueller’s special counsel. The counsel has since resulted in dozens of indictments, none of which are within the scope of the investigation, which includes examining “any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the Trump campaign.”

Rosenstein’s leaked comments come as no surprise, given the ally he’s proven himself to be for Democrats in the past.

Extending Surveillance of Carter Page

Rosenstein played a role in renewing the FISA warrant used to spy on Carter Page during the 2016 election, in-part enabled by British spy Christopher Steele’s dirty dossier.

As we learned from the Nunes Memo, Rosenstein approved an application to extend surveillance on Carter Page. He signed the final FISA renewal in late June 2017, not longafter he appointed Mueller in May. Republican lawmakers have argued that Rosenstein and others failed to sufficiently explaine why they allowed the spying to continue, and why they failed to properly vet the warrant application.

Rosenstein Wrote the Memo Justifying Comey’s Termination – Then Used the Firing Against Trump

James Comey would’ve been fired by President Trump regardless, but it was a memo from Rosenstein that was used to officially justify it. Rosenstein wrote in a memo to Jeff Sessions evaluating Comey’s handling of the Clinton email investigation that “I cannot defend the Director’s handling of the conclusion of the investigation of Secretary Clinton’s emails, and I do not understand his refusal to accept serious mistakes; it is one of the few issues that unites people of diverse perspectives.” While not a partisan document, Rosenstein also supports the the left-wing narrative that Comey’s actions may have cost Hillary the election in the memo.

There’s no way that Rosenstein didn’t know his memo would be used to justify Comey’s firing, but he was reported being “shaken” and “overwhelmed” by the New York Times following Comey’s termination.

While Rosenstein says that publicly, his actions set the stage for inevitable calls for a special counsel that he could fulfill. And why wouldn’t they? The firing of Comey would unquestionably be interpreted as “obstruction of justice” by liberals. And not only that, Rosenstein could then use this as justification for invoking the 25th Amendment. As Andrew McCarthy noted:

Immediately after Comey was dismissed, Rosenstein let it be known that Trump seemed incompetent in interviews of candidates to run the FBI. Though he had shredded Comey in his May 9 memo, Rosenstein reportedly began telling FBI officials that he wished Comey were still running the FBI, and even contemplated consulting Comey on appointment of a special counsel. And when was he doing that? The Times tells us it was in the period May 12 to 17. That is, at precisely the time Rosenstein reportedly was floating the idea of wiretapping Trump and ousting him under the 25th Amendment, he decided to appoint a special counsel.

And with that, one witch hunt was swapped for another.

Uranium One

The FBI had uncovered the shady web of Russian interests engaging in bribery, kickbacks, and other acts of corruption designed to grow Russia’s nuclear influence, before Obama signed the Uranium One deal in 2010. The DOJ spent four subsequent years investigating the sketchy deal without notifying the American public. The scandal wasn’t brought to light until 2015, thanks to the work of author Peter Schweitzer.

The man who supervised the investigation, which found evidence of Russian nuclear corruption, was Rod Rosenstein. Among that corruption included donations from Russian interests to the Clinton Foundation.

And what did Rosenstein do with that information? A whole lot of nothing. The Justice Department and FBI did charge a man named Vadim Mikerin, the Russian overseeing Putin’s nuclear expansion in the U.S., in 2014. However, the DOJ and FBI were largely silent about the charges, with the first public statement about the charges being in a press release a year later.

Why be so secretive – if not to provide cover for the Obama administration and Clinton State Department that were the ones interacting with these Russians?

Conclusion

Rod Rosenstein meets with Trump on Friday. Hopefully he’ll be hearing the same words that hundreds of contestants on “The Apprentice” have heard before him.