Timothy Birdnow

Well, it really has gone and hit the fan. A New York Times story is claiming Rod Rosenstein suggested wearing a wire to secretely record the President and use it for a 25th Amendment intervention to remove Trump from office.

In short, if true, he was suggesting a coup against the duly elected President of the United States.

Rosenstein denied the veracity of the story to Fox News.

According to the Fox article:

"The New York Times’s story is inaccurate and factually incorrect,” he said in a statement to Fox News. "I will not further comment on a story based on anonymous sources who are obviously biased against the department and are advancing their own personal agenda. But let me clear about this: Based on my personal dealings with the president, there is no basis to invoke the 25th Amendment.”

In another statement, he said emphatically, "I never pursued or authorized recording the president, and any suggestion that I
have ever advocated for the removal of the president is absolutely false."

End excerpt.

I watched Fox News yesterday evening and there was considerable discussion about how this freed Trump to fire Rosenstein, the man who appointed Mueller and who has had it in for Trump all along. This is, they argued, an act of gross insubordination and it would justify Rosenstein's firing. The next man in line is quite skeptical of these proceedings, and would likely wind them down.

Sean Hannity, on his radio program last night. was abotu to burst a blood vessel over this.

This is a very serious allegation and should be investigated, and if true Rowdy Roddy Rosenstein should be dismissed with extreme prejudice. BUT...

Perhaps I'm getting a little odd in my old age, a little paranoid, but this whole story stinks to me. It smells like a setup. Where is it coming from? The New York Times utterly despises Donald Trump and if he were laying on the sands in the desert nobody from that venerable publication would so much as urinate in the man's mouth to quench his thirst. A gift from your enemy is usually no bargain - just ask the Trojans.

I suspect this is a trap intended to get Trump angry and have him fire Rosenstein without adequate evidence. They then would be able to claim he obstructed justice, firing Rosy to end the investigation.

I'm all for firing the creepy fellow, but if Trump does he had better have rock solid evidence that this happened. Rosenstein's denial can be looked at two ways; either it's true, or it isn't, and if it Rosenstein did say this he would naturally deny it. Either way, there has to be corroboration.

And it is entirely possible, as there were a number of other people present, people to whom Rose-by-any-other-neme-would-still-stink had pitched this. If one or more come forward, that may not even be enough. Firing Rosenstein requires exquisite care.

I strongly suspect this is an inartful trap laid by people who still do not understand Donald J. Trump. They figure he'll just blow up and act on impulse. But what real evidence is there that Trump, a man who has made enormous piles of money doing all sorts of deals in all sorts of industries, has ever really been that way? Oh, he plays the fool well, tweeting out things that confuse and anger his enemies, but what evidence is there that Trump has ever actually taken concrete action out of pure anger or spite? I just don't see it.

He is full of bluster, but is far more reserved in his actual actions.

This is the type of trap that someone who doesn't grasp that would think would work. It's amazing, because they've been laying these sorts of traps for him since before the election and none of them work. But liberals are an arrogant lot, and they would naturally assume they could easily trick him. After all, this has usually worked with Republicans in the past.

Trump is not a Republican. Never forget that.

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 09:17 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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