The memo: An opening for Trump to fire Rod Rosenstein (Salon)

[oberliner]

With the Friday release of the infamous Nunes Memo, it's clear that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein's job is likely in jeopardy.

Just as Republican support for the deputy attorney general is waning, Nunes' memo landed, albeit with a thud. Among other things, it confirmed that intelligence agencies were aware of George Papadopoulos' connections to Russian sources – ultimately leading the FBI to open a probe into the Trump campaign in July 2016.

Nunes' memo also served its partisan purpose. It provided an excuse for President Donald Trump to fire Rosenstein, the only man who can fire special counsel Robert Mueller.

https://www.salon.com/2018/02/02/the-memo-an-opening-for-trump-to-fire-rod-rosenstein/

We need to make sure our heads are not in the sand. Going to be a lot of work ahead of us to stop this madness.

[Kingofalldems]

1. Hmmm. Doubling down.

[oberliner]

2. It's a state of emergency

All hands on deck!

We cannot allow this to stand - we must fight!

[C_U_L8R]

3. Hardly

Trump is delusional if he thinks that contrived Nunes memo vindicates him in any way.

[oberliner]

4. It doesn't matter if it does or not

The truth is not relevant for Trump and his supporters.

[C_U_L8R]

6. Fortunately, it matters to the rest of the world

and there are many more of us than them.
Ultimately, Trump will be his own undoing.

[lindysalsagal]

5. He "thinks" whatever faux news tells him to "think." He parrots.

It appears to be his undoing: They'll broadcast any crap that brings in eye balls: So, it's administration by ratings.

Ultimately, he'll take their advice and take one fatal step into oblivion.

Can we get anonymous to hack faux news and tell him that his base wants him to expose the entire GOP leadership as liars and crooks about 3 weeks before the mid-terms????

[madville]

7. Is Rosenstein complicit in the Comey firing obstruction case?

Since Rosenstein recommended Comey be replaced/fired and drafted a memo laying out all Comey's transgressions (mishandling Clinton investigation, undercutting DOJ authority in mid-2016, announcing the investigation reopened in late October 2016, not following his chain of command, etc)

Rosenstein was complicit in the Comey firing and I believe his Comey firing memo gives Trump enough validation to avoid any obstruction of justice charge on that matter or else Rosenstein is just as guilty for recommending Comey be fired.

I actually agree with Rosenstein that Comey should have been fired for the way he mishandled the Clinton investigation and tilted the election. Comey came across as an incompetent buffoon in that whole mess.

Rosenstein needs the Mueller investigation to stay open as long as possible now, it's the only thing saving his job at this point. Or he will switch sides and start doing the administration's bidding, it could go either way.

[madville]

8. I don't think they fire Rosenstein but

I do see the memo and the upcoming OIG report being used as a basis to spin up another special counsel investigation involving FISA abuse that will cover Rosenstein, Comey, McCabe, Yates, and the other deputy AG involved.

I think Sessions is just waiting on the OIG report to be completed before doing so.

That means all of them will be interviewed by FBI/DOJ as part of a criminal investigation, one slip and you are guilty of lying to a federal investigator and now they have leverage to turn you against the others. They are all smart enough to lawyer up though since they are all lawyers themselves. Unless they coordinate somehow though, someone will contradict the other and then the special counsel can pursue both for lying.

[Sophia4]

9. Trump's inability to keep a team or even just plain random employees

together and employed and focused on doing their jobs instead of who is going to be fired or decide to leave next puts his stability in question, his psychological stability, his ability to plan and think things through and make decisions about who to hire in the first place . . . is a problem. It raises serious questions.

He may claim to be a "stable genius," but his inability to choose staff and keep them is beginning to make him look, to the contrary, very unstable.

In my opinion, if he fires one more person, he is going to look kind of crazy.