Rod Rosenstein called his old boss, former FBI Director James Comey, a “partisan pundit” in a speech Monday evening.
The swipe comes after Comey said his former deputy, who oversaw special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, was lacking “sterling character, strong character.”
“Now the former director is a partisan pundit, selling books and earning speaking fees while speculating about the strength of my character and the fate of my immortal soul,” Rosenstein told the Greater Baltimore Committee. “That is disappointing. Speculating about souls is not a job for police and prosecutors.”
Former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein slams former FBI Director James @Comey: “The former director seems to be acting as a partisan pundit, selling books and earning speaking fees while speculating about the strength of my character and the fate of my immortal soul” pic.twitter.com/fs9aWBmWAM
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) May 14, 2019
Comey reacted to Rosenstein calling him a “partisan pundit” on Monday with five words. “I wish him the best,” Comey told CNN.
The speech comes less than a week after Comey participated in a CNN town hall to mark the two-year anniversary of getting fired by President Trump. CNN’s Anderson Cooper asked Comey about a New York Times op-ed in which he wrote the president corrupted Attorney General William Barr and Rosenstein.
“I think people like that, like Rod Rosenstein, who are people of accomplishment but not real sterling character, strong character, find themselves trapped. And then they start telling themselves a story to justify their being trapped which is, ‘Yeah, he’s awful but the country needs me,’” Comey said.
Comey routinely criticizes the president. A former Republican, Comey has urged Americans to vote for Democrats in 2020.
Rosenstein wrote the memo Trump publicly used as justification to fire Comey in May 2017. It criticized the former FBI director for his handling of the Hillary Clinton emails investigation.
With Mueller’s investigation completed, Rosenstein ended his decades-long tenure with the Justice Department last week. In his Monday evening speech, which followed a commencement address at the University of Baltimore, Rosenstein defended his actions, including writing the Comey memo at Trump’s request.
“Nobody said that the removal was intended to influence the course of my Russia investigation,” he said. “I would never have allowed anyone to interfere with the investigation,” he added.
Mueller investigated whether Trump obstructed justice in 10 separate instances, including when he fired Comey, but did not make a determination on the matter. Barr said he made the decision with Rosenstein that there was not sufficient evidence to prove an obstruction crime, but Democrats in Congress want to investigate further.
Rosenstein said he “recognized that the unusual circumstances of the firing and the ensuing developments would give reasonable people cause to speculate about the credibility of the investigation.”
