Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Rod Rosenstein, Man Who Would Have To Fire Mueller, Says It’s Not Happening

Rod Rosenstein, the No. 2 official at the U.S. Justice Department, on Tuesday told Congress the special counsel investigating Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign is going to have “the full degree of independence” he needs.

He said it would be fair to put “to rest” rumors of Mueller’s ouster.

“Director Mueller is going to have the full degree of independence that he needs to conduct that investigation appropriately,” Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein told a Senate appropriations subcommittee, referring to special counsel Robert Mueller.

Rosenstein, who has the sole ability to fire Mueller given that Attorney General Jeff Sessions has recused himself from matters relating to the investigation, told the panel he had seen no evidence of good cause for letting Mueller go and that he would not follow any theoretical order to fire him absent such evidence.

Allies of President Trump have said he may consider trying to oust Mueller. That would involve ordering Rosenstein to fire him, a move reminiscent of Richard Nixon’s ill-fated effort to scuttle the Watergate investigation.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said she has serious concerns. “It would be catastrophic and … would destroy any shred of trust in the president’s judgment,” she said.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.