The FBI seriously considered Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s alleged suggestion that he secretly record his conversations with President Donald Trump, according to the agency’s former top lawyer.
The New York Times reported Rosenstein’s comment in September. He denied the story, but the Justice Department gave the newspaper a statement from an anonymous person present at the meeting, who said the deputy attorney general was being sarcastic when he made the remark.
FBI General Counsel James Baker testified before House investigators that two agency officials at the meeting where Rosenstein reportedly made the remark, FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and attorney Lisa Page, both came to his office and informed him of the comment not long afterwards. Baker told House investigators that he took the news seriously. Baker, McCabe and Page have all since left the FBI.
"The thing that struck me the most was the serious look on Baker's face when he was describing it," an unnamed source with knowledge of the investigation told the Washington Examiner. "He was conveying that they [McCabe and Page] took it seriously, and because they took it seriously, he took it seriously."
"McCabe, Page, and Baker were talking about [secretly recording the president] as a real thing, and discussing it as a serious issue," another unnamed source said.
President Donald Trump met with Rosenstein aboard Air Force One on Monday, and told reporters afterwards that he has no plans to fire the deputy attorney general.
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