Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is expected to step down from the Department of Justice once the new attorney general is confirmed.
Fox News reports that Rosenstein wants to ensure that incoming attorney general nominee Bill Barr smoothly transitions into the job.
Officials close to Rosenstein told Fox that the deputy attorney general has long thought of his position at the DOJ as a two-year job and his departure would align with his two-year deadline.
A disturbing New York Times report in September 2018 revealed that Rosenstein wanted to secretly record President Trump to “expose the chaos consuming the administration.” He also, allegedly, discussed invoking the 25th Amendment to remove the president from office.
Rosenstein has denied the reports about him, and stories surfaced that he made the comments “in jest.” However, former FBI General Counsel James Baker told Congress he took Rosenstein’s comments “seriously.”
While Baker himself was not in the room with Rosenstein when he made the comments, two of his associates were: FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and FBI lawyer, Lisa Page. Both McCabe and Page allegedly took Rosenstein seriously and conveyed that to Baker.
