Rod Rosenstein

Rosenstein Blasts Comey as a “Partisan Pundit” Who Deserved to Be Fired

Rosenstein started his first week as a private citizen by defending the Mueller probe and waging war against James Comey.

By Alison Durkee

May 13, 2019

Rod Rosenstein speaks at a podium while gesticulating with his right hand.

Former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein may have left the Department of Justice, but he's not going quietly into the night. Days after stepping down from the D.O.J., where he oversaw much of the Mueller investigation, Rosenstein spoke out against his critics in a searing speech Monday evening at the Greater Baltimore Committee—particularly former F.B.I. director James Comey. Rosenstein hit back against Comey after the former F.B.I. head referred to him as an “accomplished [person] lacking inner strength” in an op-ed for The New York Times, describing Comey as a “partisan pundit” whose handling of Hillary Clinton's email server trampled on “bright lines that should never be crossed.” “Now the former Director is a partisan pundit, selling books and earning speaking fees while speculating about the strength of my character and the fate of my immortal soul,” Rosenstein said. “That is disappointing. Speculating about souls is not a job for police and prosecutors. Generally we base our opinions on eyewitness testimony.”

Rosenstein blasted Comey for taking steps that were “not within the range of reasonable decisions” in his Clinton investigation, such as holding a press conference and sending a letter to Congress about the criminal investigation against Clinton days before the election. These actions “were inconsistent with our goal of communicating to all FBI employees that they should respect the attorney general’s role, refrain from disclosing information about criminal investigations, avoid disparaging uncharged persons, and above all, not take unnecessary steps that could influence an election,” Rosenstein said. The former deputy A.G. also defended his memo recommending Comey's firing to former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions. That memo, which was then referenced by Trump in his letter officially firing Comey, cited the Clinton email probe as the reason for Comey's termination, even as Trump critics speculated the firing was an act of obstruction by the president to end the F.B.I. investigation. Rosenstein said that Trump “did not tell me what reasons to put in my memo,” and claimed “nobody said that the removal was intended to influence the course of my Russia investigation.” As the Mueller report noted, Rosenstein did refuse Trump's request to mention that Comey had told Trump he was not under investigation, which Rosenstein claimed because he believed it to be irrelevant and could not personally verify what Comey had told Trump.

“If I had been asked to make a recommendation before the removal decision was made, I would have included a more balanced analysis of the pros and cons. But my brief memo to the Attorney General is correct, and it was reasonable under the circumstances,” Rosenstein said Monday—though he added, “If I had been the decision-maker, the removal would have been handled very differently, with far more respect and far less drama.”

Rosenstein also defended in the speech his decision to appoint Special Counsel Robert Mueller as “justified,” hitting back against the Trump camp's claim the Mueller investigation was no more than a partisan witch hunt. “I recognized that the unusual circumstances of the firing and the ensuing developments would give reasonable people cause to speculate about the credibility of the investigation,” Rosenstein said. “I determined that I needed a special counsel to help resolve the election-interference investigation in a way that would best protect America from foreign adversaries and preserve public confidence in the long run.” Though Rosenstein noted that he “disfavor[s] special counsels” in general, he concluded that he “think[s] I made the right decision.” “I respect anybody’s right to disagree, but in fairness, critics should explain what they would have done with the details we knew at the time, and consider how things might have progressed and how long it might have taken.”

Rosenstein's newfound outspokenness caps a controversial tenure at the D.O.J., where he was frequently blasted by the president and his allies for overseeing the Mueller probe—and for allegedly raising the idea of wearing a wire around the president and invoking the 25th Amendment. At the same time, the deputy A.G. seemingly pandered to the Trump camp in his final weeks on the job, drawing criticism from the left for praising Attorney General William Barr's controversial handling of the Mueller report and even praising Trump—a man who once retweeted an image of Rosenstein behind bars—for his “courtesy and humor” in his letter of resignation. Now that he's left the D.O.J., Rosenstein still isn't taking sides in the partisan battle over the Mueller report, instead choosing to use this moment to hit back at the critics who claim his actions were politically driven in the first place. Rosenstein preceded his Greater Baltimore Committee address with another speech at the University of Baltimore Law School on Monday, in which he quoted Mueller in saying there “may be times” when graduates “find yourself standing alone, against those you thought were trusted colleagues,” and that graduates should hold tight to their principles even when its “painful and costly” to do so. In his evening speech, he alluded to the partisan criticisms against him even more overtly, saying that in all his investigations, he was “on the American team.”

“People spend a lot of time debating whose side I was on, based on who seemed to benefit most from any individual decision,” Rosenstein said. “That is because partisans evaluate things in terms of the immediate political impact, and cable TV pundits fill a lot of time by pretending there is always serious breaking news. But trying to infer partisanship from law enforcement decisions is a category error. It uses the wrong frame of reference.”

“My soul and character are pretty much the same today as they were two years ago,” Rosenstein added about his D.O.J. tenure. “I took a few hits and made some enemies during my time in the arena, but I held my ground and made a lot of friends. And thanks to them, I think I made the right calls on the things that mattered.”