Vice President Mike Pence said Wednesday morning that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein “recommended” the firing of FBI director James Comey.
Sure enough, Rosenstein’s letter laid out all the ways the FBI director had acted inappropriately, and at times implied that firing Comey would be best. But here’s a point that seems to be getting lost: Rosenstein never explicitly recommended firing Comey.
The three-page, thousand-word letter has widely been interpreted as a death sentence. But after thoroughly trashing Comey’s handling of the Clinton email controversy, Rosenstein ends his overwhelming legal performance without a climax.
After pointing out how Comey failed to admit his mistakes in handling the Clinton email controversy — how the FBI director wrongly went to the press, incorrectly released information, and irrationally declared the case closed — Rosenstein starts hedging in his final two paragraphs.
“We should reject the departure and return to the traditions,” the lawyer writes, in what would normally serve as the dramatic setup to the final proclamation.
Rather than dropping the hammer, Rosenstein hedges in his finale. “Although the President has the power to remove an FBI director,” he writes meekly, “the decision should not be taken lightly.”
All of this raises an important and inescapable question, namely why wouldn’t Rosenstein finish the job? It could be that he’s cloaking his words in overly cautious lawyer-speak. Or it could indicate that Rosenstein was a somewhat unwilling messenger.
—
[Editor’s note: Georgetown University Law Professor laid out some of the above points just after midnight Tuesday night in this blog post. -tpc]
Philip Wegmann is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
