Deputy attorney general asked to brief senators after Comey firing
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Thursday that the deputy attorney general has been asked to brief the entire Senate next week in the wake of FBI Director James Comey’s firing.
“I’ve just heard from the majority leader that he will invite Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to an all senators briefing next week. … It is a good first step, and I thank the majority leader for consenting to this request,” Schumer said from the Senate floor.
Don Stewart, a spokesman for Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), said Rosenstein has already been meeting with lawmakers and “has made himself available to the leadership as well.”
“So the leader is working on scheduling a briefing for all members from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Once we have more information we’ll be sure to make an announcement,” he said in response to a question about Schumer’s comments.
{mosads}Schumer noted that Rosenstein offered to meet with him while he was on Capitol Hill on Thursday, but Schumer stressed that the No. 2 Justice Department official needed to meet with all senators.
“I said I wanted to meet with him along with my 99 colleagues so that members of both parties were given the opportunity to question him,” he said.
Schumer said while Rosenstein hasn’t formally accepted the invitation, he believes it is “very likely” that the briefing will happen.
He added that “I am glad he has a willingness to come talk to Congress, and I hope he’ll accept our bipartisan investigation.”
Schumer publicly asked McConnell to respond by the end of Thursday to his request that Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions meet in separate closed-door briefings with senators after President Trump’s shocking decision this week to fire Comey.
Schumer reiterated early Thursday evening that Democrats still want Sessions to come speak with them. Democrats have homed in on Sessions since Comey’s firing, questioning his involvement with the decision because he previously recused himself from any involvement in investigations tied to Russia’s role in the 2016 campaign.
“Attorney General Sessions must be made available to the Senate in a similar capacity given his reported role in firing Director Comey and helping select his replacement, considering his recusal from the Russia investigation, his close involvement in these events warrants the Senate’s questioning as well,” he said.
Trump initially cited the judgment of Sessions and Rosenstein as his basis for firing Comey, though he told NBC News on Thursday that he would have fired him regardless of the Department of Justice’s recommendation.
Rosenstein met with Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Richard Burr (R-N.C.), the top members on the Senate Intelligence Committee, earlier Thursday.
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