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Article snippet: Former FBI deputy director MORE. The New York Times reported Wednesday that McCabe described second-hand a conversation he heard about from Rosenstein, who spoke with Trump about firing Comey. According to McCabe, Trump asked Rosenstein to mention Russia in the deputy attorney general's memo recommending Comey’s termination. However, Russia and the investigation of the country’s interference in the 2016 election were not mentioned in Rosenstein’s final document. McCabe, according to the Times, believed that Rosenstein may have provided a cover story for Trump to fire Comey over the Russia probe by writing, instead, about the former director’s handling of the probe into 2016 Democratic presidential nominee MORE’s use of a private email server. But according to the Times' sources, Rosenstein in his recounting the conversation with Trump said the president wanted Russia mentioned. One person familiar with what Rosenstein said reportedly thought Trump wanted his deputy attorney general to confirm that Trump was not under investigation in the Russia probe. McCabe has turned over his memo about the conversation to special counsel MORE, according to the Times. Spokespeople for McCabe and the Justice Department declined to comment to The Times. Attorney General MORE fired McCabe earlier this year after an inspector general report found that he was not forthright with investigators and that he made an unauthorized disclosure to the media. McCabe has disputed the report's... Link to the full article to read more