Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse said Friday that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s memo could be part of the criminal investigation into the Trump campaign’s possible collusion with the Russian government.
“There were a lot of questions yesterday about the Rosenstein memo,” Mr. Whitehouse, Rhode Island Democrat, said on MSNBC.
“Rod was very cautions about answering any of those questions because he said it is possible for the very creation of that Rosenstein memo to be a part of [newly named special prosecutor Robert Mueller’s] investigation. And until it’s clear it’s not going to be, he doesn’t want to start muddying up the waters for the Mueller investigation.”
Mr. Rosenstein wrote a memo recommending former FBI Director James B. Comey be fired due to a combination of missteps and a need for new leadership. The White House pointed to this recommendation as the reason that Mr. Trump decided to fire Mr. Comey, although Mr. Trump later said in an interview that he had already decided to fire Mr. Comey after taking office.
Mr. Whitehouse also addressed the need for “deconfliction” among the various investigations into the Trump campaign saying that there needs to be a “system in place” to prevent overlap.
“There’s going to have to be deconfliction between our legitimate oversight and legislative investigative efforts and his criminal and investigative efforts. And we’re going to need to get a system in place so that that deconfliction can take place through a responsible air traffic control,” he said.
As to whether Mr. Trump will personally be under investigation, Mr. Whitehouse said that’s up to Mr. Mueller.
“I don’t know that. And I think Bob Mueller will have to make that call. I think it’s clear the investigation leads into that circle,” Mr. Whitehouse said.
• Sally Persons can be reached at spersons@washingtontimes.com.
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