Last spring, acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe wrote a confidential memo regarding a conversation he had at the Justice Department with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein about President Trump's abrupt firing of McCabe's predecessor, James Comey. Rosenstein told McCabe that Trump had originally asked him to reference Russia in a memo he used to justify firing Comey, several people familiar with the discussion told The New York Times.
Rosenstein's memo instead took Comey to task for the way he handled the investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails. McCabe has reportedly given his memo and other documents to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating whether Trump attempted to obstruct the probe into his campaign's ties to Russia. Rosenstein never told McCabe what exactly Trump wanted him to say about Russia, the Times reports, but McCabe felt the anecdote could be potential evidence that Comey's firing was related to the FBI's investigation into Trump and Russia, and that Rosenstein was providing cover for Trump by writing about the Clinton probe.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
US foodies brace for tariff warUnder The Radar Shoppers stocking up on imported olive oil, maple syrup and European wine as price hikes loom
-
How Canadian tariffs could impact tourism to the USIn the Spotlight Canadians represent the largest group of foreign visitors to the United States. But they may soon stop visiting.
-
Entitlements: DOGE goes after Social SecurityFeature Elon Musk is pushing false claims about Social Security fraud
-
Rep. Sylvester Turner dies, weeks after joining HouseSpeed Read The former Houston mayor and longtime state legislator left behind a final message for Trump: 'Don't mess with Medicaid'
-
Trump pauses Ukraine intelligence sharingSpeed Read The decision is intended to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy into peace negotiations with Vladimir Putin
-
Supreme Court rules against Trump on aid freezeSpeed Read The court rejected the president's request to freeze nearly $2 billion in payments for foreign humanitarian work
-
Trump touts early wins in partisan speech to CongressSpeed Read The president said he is 'just getting started' with his sweeping changes to immigration, the economy and foreign policy
-
Trudeau blasts Trump's 'very dumb' trade warSpeed Read Retaliatory measures have been announced by America's largest trading partners following Trump's tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China
-
Trump pauses military aid to Ukraine after public spatSpeed Read Trump and J.D. Vance berated Volodymyr Zelenskyy for what they saw as insufficient gratitude
-
Trump's Mexico and Canada tariffs begin, roiling marketsSpeed Read Stocks plunged after Trump affirmed that the tariffs would take effect, sparking a likely trade war
-
Judge tells White House to stop ordering mass firingsspeed read The ruling is a complication in the Trump administration's plans to slash the federal workforce
