Rod Rosenstein

Stephen Bannon predicts that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein could be fired “very shortly,” in an interview that will be broadcast Wednesday evening in the United Kingdom, The Hill reports.

Bannon said that Rosenstein “either…is going to take the direct order of the President of the United States or I think Rosenstein will be fired.”

In response to President Trump demanding an investigation into whether the FBI “infiltrated” his presidential campaign, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein “asked its internal watchdog, the Office of the Inspector General, to expand its current inquiry into the surveillance of a former Trump campaign official to include the questions raised by the president,” the New York Times reports.

Said Rosenstein: “If anyone did infiltrate or surveil participants in a presidential campaign for inappropriate purposes, we need to know about it and take appropriate action.”

“By handing the question to the inspector general, Mr. Rosenstein appeared to be trying to thread the needle, giving the president what he said he wanted without fully bowing to his demands. But it was not clear whether that would satisfy Mr. Trump, who in February complained that it was ‘disgraceful’ for the Justice Department to hand over the surveillance investigation to an inspector general who lacks prosecutorial power, saying it would ‘take forever’ and suggesting that he was ‘an Obama guy.'”

“Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein told President Trump last week that he isn’t a target of any part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation,” Bloomberg reports.

“Rosenstein, who brought up the Mueller probe himself, offered the assurance during a meeting with Trump at the White House last Thursday… After the meeting, Trump told some of his closest advisers that it’s not the right time to remove either man since he’s not a target of the probe.”

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein “has struck a stoic and righteous tone in private conversations he has had this week about the fate of his job as President Trump has launched public criticism against him and considered firing him,” NBC News reports.

“One source who spoke to Rosenstein said he seemed fully aware he may soon lose his job and was at peace with the possibility, confident he had done his job with integrity.”

Also interesting: “Rosenstein has said in recent private conversations that history will prove he did the right thing by firing Comey in May 2017, claiming that the American people do not have all the facts about what led to his decision to write the memo that led to Comey’s dismissal.”

For insight into what would happen next, listen to the latest episode of Political Wire Conversations with Asha Rangappa.

“The White House is preparing talking points designed to undermine Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s credibility,” CNN reports.

“The plan calls on President Donald Trump’s allies to cast Rosenstein as too conflicted to fairly oversee the Russia investigation.The talking points are still in their preliminary form, and not yet finalized.”

President Trump discussed firing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein with White House aides on Wednesday, Bloomberg reports, “as a chorus of Trump’s advisers and allies urged him to thwart the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.”

“Egged on by some of his strongest supporters, Trump has taken an increasingly combative posture toward special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation after FBI agents descended on the office and home of his lawyer Michael Cohen on Monday.”

The Week: Trump’s favorite Fox News analysts are urging him to fire Rosenstein.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein personally signed off on Monday’s FBI decision to raid the office of Michael Cohen, President Trump’s personal attorney and longtime confidant, the New York Times reports.

“The early-morning searches enraged Mr. Trump, associates said, setting off an angry public tirade Monday evening that continued in private at the White House as the president fumed about whether he should fire Mr. Rosenstein. The episode has deeply unsettled White House aides, Justice Department officials and lawmakers from both parties, who believe the president may use it as a pretext to purge the team leading the investigation into Russia meddling in the 2016 election.”

President Trump “continues to tell his associates he believed the highly controversial Republican memo alleging the FBI abused its surveillance tools could help discredit the Russia investigation,” CNN reports.

“In phone calls last night and over the past days, Trump has told friends he believes the memo would expose bias within the agency’s top ranks and make it easier for him to argue the Russia investigations are prejudiced against him.”

Also important: “People familiar with the President’s thinking say the fate of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein remains in question amid the expected release of the Nunes memo.”

For members: Trump Sure Seems to Be Hiding Something

“Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein visited the White House in December seeking President Trump’s help. The top Justice Department official in the Russia investigation wanted Trump’s support in fighting off document demands from House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes,” CNN reports.

“But the President had other priorities ahead of a key appearance by Rosenstein on the Hill… Trump wanted to know where the special counsel’s Russia investigation was heading. And he wanted to know whether Rosenstein was ‘on my team.'”