A conservative watchdog group is suing the Justice Department for all of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s communications from around the firing of FBI Director James Comey and the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller.
The Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by Judicial Watch, filed last week in the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia, seeks all e-mails, text messages, and other records between May 8 and May 17, 2017.
Comey was fired on May 7 and Mueller was appointed by Rosenstein on May 17 to lead the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.
That 10-day time span has come under increased scrutiny in recent weeks due to claims by former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe during his book tour.
McCabe provided on-the-record corroboration of months-old reports that Rosenstein told Justice Department officials about wearing a “wire” to record conversations with Trump and that he had discussed invoking the 25th Amendment against the president to remove him from office in the days after Comey was fired.
The Justice Department claims his version of events was “inaccurate and factually incorrect” and stressed that Rosenstein never authorized the use of a wire to secretly record Trump.
“These critical days in May, a scant three months into President Trump’s term, included extraordinary targeting of President Trump by Rod Rosenstein and other Deep State officials at the DOJ and FBI,” Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton said in a statement Tuesday. “Judicial Watch’s focused FOIA lawsuit aims to uncover what exactly Mr. Rosenstein’s role was in any discussions to overthrow President Trump.”
Judicial Watch previously sued the Justice Department in February for any recordings Rosenstein may have made while attending meetings in the White House. That lawsuit seeks all records of communications between Rosenstein, the office of former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and McCabe about using the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office. That lawsuit also seeks all audio or visual recordings made by any official in the Office of the Attorney General or Deputy Attorney General of meetings in the executive office of the president or vice president.
Rosenstein reportedly plans to leave the department by mid-March. In recent weeks, Trump has accused Rosenstein and McCabe of planning to carry out an “illegal and treasonous” plan against him.
