Monday began with a media firestorm about Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, with reports that he would either resign or be fired because of Friday’s report in The New York Times that he had considered wearing a wire in his meetings with President Donald Trump to build a case for Cabinet members that he should be removed from office under the 25th Amendment. The firestorm relented with the announcement that Trump would meet Thursday with Rosenstein, who oversees special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s attempts to influence the 2016 presidential campaign and its ties with the Trump campaign.
Yet it’s plain that Rosenstein’s days may be numbered. If he is ousted, it is crucial that the Mueller probe go on. House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell must grasp that their first loyalties are to the health of democracy and speak out. Critics of the probe have succeeded in raising doubts among many Republicans about the FBI’s role and its integrity, but they haven’t laid a glove on Mueller. If Rosenstein’s replacement fires Mueller, that will be a stain on our nation.
Trump sees the Mueller probe as an attempt to delegitimize his election. He needs to realize that forcing Mueller out will delegitimize his presidency.
— The San Diego Union-Tribune