Did President Trump ask Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to produce a recommendation that he fire former FBI Director James Comey?
When asked point blank by NBC’s Lester Holt on Thursday, Trump wouldn’t say.
But as speculation over whether the president worked with Rosenstein to materialize a justification for Comey’s firing ensues, it’s important to remember one key detail — whether or not Trump asked Rosenstein for a recommendation, he didn’t get one.
My colleague Phil Wegmann pointed out yesterday that Rosenstein’s memo never explicitly says Trump should fire 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.
Nevertheless, White House officials, including the president himself, have since referred to the memo repeatedly as a “recommendation.”
The Wall Street Journal included a roundup of the most notable mentions in an article on Thursday afternoon:
Asked Tuesday why Mr. Trump was firing Mr. Comey four months into his term, senior counselor Kellyanne Conway said: “Well, I would point them to the three letters that were received today.”
Sarah Sanders, a White House spokeswoman, told Fox News on Tuesday that Mr. Trump had reacted after receiving a “clear and direct and very strong recommendation from the deputy attorney general.”
Ms. Sanders, on MSNBC the following morning, said the reason for the dismissal was “real simple … The deputy attorney general made a very strong recommendation.”
Wednesday morning, Vice President Mike Pence, speaking to reporters at the Capitol, repeatedly pointed to Mr. Rosenstein’s letter while describing the president’s decision.
Whether or not it matters that Trump asked Rosenstein for a recommendation is a different debate, but it’s well worth remembering that he never got one.
According to WSJ’s report, Rosenstein asked the White House to “correct” its “depiction” that Trump’s decision was made in direct response to the memo, something that was heavily implied in Trump’s original letter to Comey notifying him of his termination.
The question now is why the White House is referring to Rosenstein’s memo as a recommendation when he seems to have deliberately stopped short of making it one.
Emily Jashinsky is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
