Rod Rosenstein is still expected to face tough questions over the three-page memo he wrote blasting Comey for what he described as unfair treatment of Hillary Clinton during the FBI’s investigation into her private email server. | Getty Senators: Rosenstein knew Comey would be fired before writing memo

Rod Rosenstein already knew James Comey was going to be fired as FBI director when he wrote the three-page memo that the White House would later assert had sealed Comey’s fate, multiple senators said Thursday as they left a highly-anticipated briefing with the deputy attorney general.

Rosenstein learned Comey was being ousted on May 8, according to Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), but the memo is dated May 9 — the day the firing took place.


“It was very clear that he learned before he wrote the memo that Comey was going to be removed,” added Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.). “Somebody made a decision to remove Comey before he wrote the memo.”

Rosenstein declined to say who asked him to write the memo, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said.

White House officials originally said Comey’s firing came at the recommendation of Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, but President Donald Trump later undercut that argument when he told NBC News he planned to fire Comey regardless.

Trump then appeared to reverse himself and cited Rosenstein's memo during a Thursday afternoon press conference with the Colombian president.

“Director Comey was very unpopular with most people. I actually thought when I made that decision — and I also got a very strong recommendation, as you know, from the deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein,” Trump said. “He had the very poor performance [before Congress]. … I believe that’s why the deputy attorney general went out and wrote his very, very strong letter.”

Thursday’s all-senators briefing was scheduled earlier this week at the insistence of Democrats, who wanted to question Rosenstein about his role in Comey’s ousting. Senators emerging from the meeting, which took place in a secure room in the Capitol, said Rosenstein made clear he was giving his newly appointed special prosecutor, Robert Mueller, wide leeway to run the FBI’s Russia investigation as he sees fit.

“He said over and over again that Mueller is going to draw the scope of this investigation, that Mueller is going to have the resources, that Mueller is not going to be interfered with by him or the Department of Justice,” Durbin said.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said the briefing made clear to him the FBI’s investigation into Russia’s election meddling had transitioned from being a counterintelligence probe to being a full-fledged criminal probe.

"It was a counterintelligence investigation until now," Graham told reporters. "It seems to me now to be considered a criminal investigation."

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said Rosenstein pledged to let Mueller take the FBI investigation in any direction — including exploring allegations of obstruction of justice.

"He was very clear that Director Mueller has the latitude to decide where this investigation goes," Murphy said. "He was pressed on that several times. And every single time he reaffirmed that Director Mueller has the ability to bring this investigation wherever it needs to go, including any questions of obstruction of justice."

The FBI’s Russia investigation, which includes looking into possible collusion between Moscow and the Trump campaign, is running parallel to investigations by the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence panel, said as he left the briefing he wanted to set up a meeting with Mueller for him and Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.).

Warner and Burr had a close relationship with Comey, meeting frequently with the then-FBI chief to ensure their Senate investigation would not conflict with the FBI’s probe.

Thursday's briefing was announced on Monday — ahead of Tuesday's explosive reports that Comey himself wrote memos detailing his meetings with Trump, including one where Trump allegedly urged Comey to drop his investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

Democrats had demanded the briefing in the wake of Comey's firing and had originally planned to use the session to press Rosenstein to appoint a special prosecutor to oversee the FBI's investigation into Russia's election meddling. Rosenstein's decision Wednesday to do exactly that took some of the heat off of him, and Democrats heaped praise on him for the decision as they left the briefing.

Rosenstein’s controversial three-page memo blasted Comey for what Rosenstein described as unfair treatment of Hillary Clinton during the FBI's investigation into her private email server.

"The reason why Comey was fired is because the president wanted to fire him,” Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) said as he left the briefing. “Mr. Rosenstein, that was for show. The president wanted to fire him, he fired him. And they thought about having some documentation to show it and thought it was a good idea. That's not the case."

Several senators griped as they left that they didn’t learn anything new, with Rosenstein declining to discuss the FBI’s Russia probe except to assure them Mueller would face no political obstacles. Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) said Rosenstein plans to release the opening statement that he delivered to senators inside the private briefing, adding: “I’ll let you draw what conclusions you will from his opening statement.”

"I'm just really disturbed by the whole presentation," said Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.). "We learned nothing except things designed to make him look good."

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) mused that the meeting was "really not a big deal to be honest."

And Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) said it was a "good question" why the briefing was even held because he learned so little, adding that the only thing he took away was how to pronounce Rosenstein's name correctly.