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Deputy Attorney General’s Memo Breaks Down Case Against Comey - The New York Times

posted onMay 10, 2017
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Article snippet: WASHINGTON — When President Trump fired James B. Comey as F.B.I. director on Tuesday, the White House made public a memorandum from Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, recommending the dismissal. The firing was highly fraught because the F.B.I. is investigating contacts between members of the Trump campaign and Russia. Mr. Rosenstein, who served as the United States attorney in Maryland under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, has a reputation as a by-the-book, nonpartisan prosecutor. In his memo, Mr. Rosenstein focused on the continuing fallout of Mr. Comey’s handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state. Here are some excerpts from the memo, with comments by The New York Times. “Over the past year, however, the F.B.l.’s reputation and credibility have suffered substantial damage, and it has affected the entire Department of Justice. … I cannot defend the Director's handling of the conclusion of the investigation of Secretary Clinton’s emails, and I do not understand his refusal to accept the nearly universal judgment that he was mistaken. Almost everyone agrees that the Director made serious mistakes; it is one of the few issues that unites people of diverse perspectives.” This is the memo’s first attempt to frame the firing of Mr. Comey as nonpartisan — a theme to which Mr. Rosenstein will return. “The Director was wrong to usurp the Attorney General’s authority on July... Link to the full article to read more

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