McCabe: Rosenstein wrote Comey memo under duress

Source: The Hill | February 8, 2019 | John Bowden

The White House directed the firing of former FBI Director James Comey in a manner that left Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein “shaken” over his role in justifying Comey’s ouster, former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe claims in his new book.

In “The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump,” McCabe reportedly writes that Rosenstein was deeply uncomfortable with Comey’s firing, telling him at the time that writing the memo “wasn’t his idea,” according to excerpts obtained by The Guardian.

“He said it wasn’t his idea. The president had ordered him to write the memo justifying the firing,” McCabe writes.

In his book, McCabe quotes Rosenstein as saying, “There’s no one here that I can trust,” according to The Guardian.

McCabe describes Rosenstein as being “glassy-eyed” after he was allegedly ordered by the White House to draft the memo about Comey’s job performance, writing that Rosenstein feared he was being used by the Trump administration as a scapegoat for Comey’s firing.

Rosenstein testified publicly in May 2017 about the memo and Comey’s firing, telling lawmakers at the time, “I wrote it. I believe it. I stand by it.”

Excerpts from the book follow reports from The New York Times last year. The paper reported that Rosenstein’s colleagues said he looked “shaken,” “unsteady,” and “overwhelmed,” following Comey’s ouster and expressed concerns that writing the memo had damaged his reputation.

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