Rosenstein Requests Meeting With Senate Leaders Amid Comey Firestorm

Rod Rosenstein Image by Getty Images

By Daniel J. Solomon May 11, 2017

Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general at the center of the unfolding controversy over FBI director James Comey’s dismissal, requested a meeting Thursday with the Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

According to Politico, Rosenstein was seen walking into the committee space today while the panel convened to discuss security threats. The get-together is said to include Republican chairman Richard Burr, a senator from North Carolina, and ranking Democrat Mark Warner, a senator from Virginia.

The Senate Intelligence Committee has the authority to investigate ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, an inquiry that some believe led to the firing of Comey – who was looking into the matter at the FBI.

Rosenstein landed in the middle of the debacle because his memo faulting Comey’s leadership at the agency was used as a pretext to fire Comey. The White House even said that Rosenstein’s memo led them to toss Comey out.

Rosenstein was said to have been so angry at this explanation of events that he threatened to resign from his Justice Department post.

Contact Daniel J. Solomon at solomon@forward.com or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon

Daniel J. Solomon is the former Assistant to the Editor/News Writer at the Forward. Originally from Queens, he attended Harvard as an undergraduate, where he wrote his senior thesis on French-Jewish intellectual history. He is excited to have returned to New York after his time in Massachusetts. Daniel’s passions include folk music, cycling, and pointed argument.

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