After the New York Times reported back in September that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein floated wearing a wire to secretly record President Trump, it was a bit surprising that he remained in his role.
But now, thanks to new reporting from the Washington Post, it’s been revealed that Rosenstein had to fight for his job in the wake of that report.
After the report came out, Rosenstein offered to resign in a meeting with then-White House chief of staff John Kelly, but said he didn’t “want to go out with a tweet,” according to the Washington Post. Rosenstein then spoke with Trump over the phone.
Rosenstein blamed the New York Times report on former deputy FBI Ddirector Andrew McCabe and told Trump that he would make sure the President was treated fairly by special counsel Robert Mueller, according to the Post.
“I give the investigation credibility,” Rosenstein reportedly said. “I can land the plane.”
That apparently helped convince Trump to keep Rosenstein on at the Justice Department
Read the Washington Post’s full report here.