President Donald Trump's Friday morning tweet that he's being investigated for firing former FBI Director James Comey may have indicated his intent to fire the special counsel appointed to the probe, according to The Washington Post.
The tweet, which seems to confirm that Trump himself is under investigation, appears to reference Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein as "the man" investigating him. Rosenstein wrote a memo used by the White House to justify Comey's firing, prompting him to reportedly threaten to resign since the memo, though critical of the former director's performance, did not recommend his termination.
Rosenstein later appointed Robert Mueller to lead the investigation into ties between Trump's campaign and Russia, which the president has repeatedly labeled a "witch hunt."
According to the Post, Trump has three ways of ousting Mueller. He could fire him directly, although that would draw the most ire; he could direct Rosenstein to fire him, but the deputy testified last week that he'd only fire the counsel for "good cause;" Trump could fire Rosenstein and see if his replacement will fire Mueller.
"In order to try to attempt to raise a legitimate scenario to fire Mueller, Trump has to discredit him," attorney Jeffrey Jacobovitz, who represented some Clinton-era White House officials, told the Post.
Trump made similar comments about Comey in the weeks leading up to his dismissal. He said on Fox Business in April that "Comey was very, very good to Hillary Clinton," and said "if he weren't she would be, right now, going to trial."
He tweeted in May, just days before firing Comey, that he "was the best thing that ever happened to Hillary Clinton," ending the tweet calling him "the phony."
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.