Dem warns Trump: ‘Obstruction of justice’ to fire Rosenstein

Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu (Calif.) argued Friday night that if President Trump moved to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein it would amount to “obstruction of justice.”
Lieu spoke to MSNBC’s Ari Melber after a New York Times report released earlier in the day alleged that Rosenstein proposed secretly recording conversations in the Oval Office last year and discussed Cabinet officials potentially invoking the 25th Amendment to remove the president.
Rosenstein roundly denied the report, calling the allegations “inaccurate” and “factually incorrect.”
He also clarified that he did not believe impeachment was appropriate.
{mosads}”But let me be clear about this: Based on my personal dealings with the president, there is no basis to invoke the 25th Amendment,” he said in a statement released by the Justice Department (DOJ).
Despite Rosenstein’s denial, the report has led some to call for his removal. In a since-deleted tweet, Fox News host Laura Ingraham, one of the 47 people Trump follows on Twitter, wrote that he “must be fired today.”
Fox News host Sean Hannity on Friday night warned Trump against firing anyone, claiming unidentified government officials were trying to undermine the president’s agenda while portraying the Times report as part of “a set up.”
Lieu, a member of the House Judiciary Committee and a vocal critic of Trump, noted the timing of the report.
“You just had Paul Manafort flip, you had Michael Cohen, his longtime lawyer, flip,” he said. “And then all of a sudden we see these sources talking about what Rod Rosenstein said.”
Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions have repeatedly drawn the ire of Trump over the Russia probe.
Sessions recused himself from the probe last year given his role on the Trump campaign, leaving Rosenstein to oversee the probe as the No. 2 DOJ official.
Rosenstein appointed Robert Mueller as special counsel last year to lead the Russia probe, which Trump has repeatedly blasted as a “witch hunt.”
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