President Trump Avoids the Deep State 25th Amendment Trap -- and a Huge Congratulations to Tiger Woods

THE REAL NEWS IS SOMETIMES SURREAL. The story hit the online headlines on Friday evening. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had suggested wearing wires when meeting with President Trump in the Oval Office, and using the 25th Amendment to remove him from office by soliciting the help of Trump cabinet members. It happenesd in the spring of 2017, not long after James Comey was fired from his position as FBI Director, and just two weeks after Rosenstein was installed as DAG. • • • THE ROSENSTEIN SHOCKER. It was the New York Times that broke the story, reporting : "Mr. Rosenstein made the remarks about secretly recording Mr. Trump and about the 25th Amendment in meetings and conversations with other Justice Department and FBI officials, including Andrew G. McCabe and disgraced FBI attorney Lisa Page. Several people described the episodes, insisting on anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. The people were briefed either on the events themselves or on memos written by FBI officials, including Andrew G. McCabe, then the acting bureau director, that documented Mr. Rosenstein’s actions and comments. None of Mr. Rosenstein’s proposals apparently came to fruition. It is not clear how determined he was about seeing them through, though he did tell Mr. McCabe that he might be able to persuade Attorney General Jeff Sessions and John F. Kelly, then the Secretary of Homeland Security and now the White House chief of staff, to mount an effort to invoke the 25th Amendment." Fox News later reported that Rosenstein also mentioned asking AG Jeff Sessions for help. • Rosenstein has denied the report, calling it "factually incorrect" : "The New York Times’s story is inaccurate and factually incorrect," he said in a statement to Fox News. "I will not further comment on a story based on anonymous sources who are obviously biased against the department and are advancing their own personal agenda. But let me clear about this : Based on my personal dealings with the President, there is no basis to invoke the 25th Amendment." In addition, Rosenstein also said in a separate statement: “I never pursued or authorized recording the President and any suggestion that I have ever advocated for the removal of the President is absolutely false.” • Fox News Insider was one of the first to report the story. Fox anchor Chris Wallace reacted Friday on "Shepard Smith Reporting" to the bombshell report about DAG Rosenstein, saying that he views the statement from Rosenstein as "very weak," and written in a "lawyerly" fashion. "I think it's very careful," said Wallace, adding that Rosenstein only asserted there is "no basis" currently for the 25th Amendment to be considered. He added that Rosenstein did not specifically say anything about whether he discussed wearing a "wire" or brought up the 25th Amendment. Wallace said the story will raise questions about Rosenstein's frame of mind right around the time he appointed Special Counsel Robert Mueller to investigate potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. According to the Washington Post, Rosenstein's statements were documented in memos written by then-FBI Acting Director Andrew McCabe. "This is a Rubik's Cube of political motivation here," said Wallace, noting that McCabe is under criminal investigation by the Justice Department. • • • REACTION WAS SWIFT. On Friday evening, Fox News legal analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano appeared on The Daily Briefing with Dana Perino to react to the York Times report. Napolitano warned that the Times report is "not complete," but he said that it is a serious allegation against Rosenstein and is "consistent" with the anonymous op-ed that criticized the inner workings of the White House, written by an unnamed official : "If [Trump] believes it, I'm sure he'll fire Rod Rosenstein. If he believes Rosenstein's denial, then we'll talk about this for three or four days until the Kavanaugh thing comes back," he said. Napolitano described the New York Times bombshell as effectively putting "a stick in a hornet's nest," given the already-icy relationship between Trump and the Justice Department. He said that if Trump fires Rosenstein and goes on to fire Sessions after the midterm elections, Solicitor General Noel Francisco would become the new acting attorney general. Napolitano noted that the firings are just conjecture, but added that Francisco is an "academic" person rather than a political one, despite being a Trump nominee, indicating that : "There would be no conflict between the Attorney General and the job of the DOJ [under Francisco, with regard to the Russia probe]. All of [Robert] Mueller's work [could] be passed on to the DOJ." Dana Perino added that a former Obama DOJ staffer, Matthew Miller, posted a cryptic tweet about McCabe -- who is under criminal investigation -- that said the ex-agent is playing a "dangerous game." Reports also appeared after the initial NYT story -- including in Politico -- that argued that Rosenstein may have been joking. • Also on Friday, Fox News "The Five" panel discussed the NYT report. Dana Perino said new reporting from a senior Justice Department official said that in the 2017 meeting where the comments were allegedly made, Rosenstein was speaking extemporaneously after being challenged by then-Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe. In response to McCabe's reported criticism that Rosenstein was preventing an aggressive investigation of Trump, Rosenstein shouted a frustrated and incredulous response that referenced wearing a wire, the official told Fox News. Perrino said : "McCabe wants to bring Rosenstein down." Marie Harf added that some people in Washington could want to goad Trump into firing Rosenstein and setting off "some kind of constitutional crisis." Jesse Watters reminded the panel that McCabe is under federal investigation for lying to federal officials, and that "we know that McCabe's a leaker. He's got an ax to grind." Greg Gutfeld said that what happened to Rosenstein with the publication of the Times report is what has happened to Trump multiple times -- the press is "taking things meant sarcastically...literally." • Representative Matt Gaetz on Friday night said : "Needless to say, if these inflammatory and disturbing claims are true, they constitute grounds for Mr. Rosenstein’s immediate removal. I have requested that the Judiciary Committee convene hearings with Mr. Rosenstein, and others who are alleged to have been in the room at the time, in order to ascertain the truth." • Gaetz added : "These remarks are an insidious attack on President Trump, and an assault on the presidency as a whole." • But, Democrat Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said : "This story must not be used as a pretext for the corrupt purpose of firing Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein in order install an official who will allow the President to interfere with the Special Counsel’s investigation. Generals Kelly, Mattis and numerous other White House and cabinet officials have been reported to say critical things of the President without being fired." • And, on Friday afternoon, in response to the Times story, Michael R. Bromwich, Andrew McCabe’s attorney, issued this statement : "Andrew McCabe drafted memos to memorialize significant discussions he had with high level officials and preserved them so he would have an accurate, contemporaneous record of those discussions. When he was interviewed by the Special Counsel more than a year ago, he gave all of his memos -- classified and unclassified -- to the Special Counsel's office. A set of those memos remained at the FBI at the time of his departure in late January 2018. He has no knowledge of how any member of the media obtained those memos." • Congressional investigators say the McCabe memos have been out of their reach, citing special counsel equities. They say the memos also include real-time debriefs from Director Comey after his meetings with Trump -- the FBI's Lisa Page is also involved in debriefs -- as part of the paper trail to build an obstruction case. The special counsel's office declined to comment. • Law Professor Jonathan Turley, of George Washington University, said on "Your World" that there is already a lack of a working relationship between Rosenstein and Trump, and that the President is also on icy terms with Attorney General Jeff Sessions. He said there is also other reports Rosenstein did say such things while meeting with then-Deputy FBI Director Andy McCabe and FBI attorney Lisa Page, but that he was "joking." Professor Turley added : "Joking about recording the President or having him forcibly removed [from office] does not help their relationship either." Noting the upcoming midterm elections, Turley said that if Trump were to respond to the report by conducting a mass firing of DOJ officials, "the optics would be perfectly horrible for the White House." • It was Donald Trump Jr. who summed it all up in a tweet : "@DonaldJTrumpJr. Shocked!!! Absolutely Shocked!!! Ohhh, who are we kidding at this point? No one is shocked that these guys would do anything in their power to undermine @realdonaldtrump. Rosenstein Suggested He Secretly Record Trump and Discussed 25th Amendment https://nyti.ms/2xxNdwl" • • • GREGG JARRETT SAYS ROSENSTEIN SHOULD BE FIRED. The most unbending reaction came from Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett, who wrote that Rod Rosenstein's coup attempt to depose Trump should not go unpunished : "Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s actions, as recounted by the New York Times Friday, are the equivalent of an attempted coup -- a plot to overthrow the President. As the Times reveals, Rosenstein was furious that Democrats blamed him for the firing of FBI Director James Comey. Rosenstein, who had volunteered to write the firing memorandum, was 'regretful and emotional.' His behavior was described as 'erratic.' He blamed Trump. So, in an apparent act of vengeance, he proposed secretly recording the President to try to gain damaging information about him. He solicited others to wear wires, including Andrew McCabe, who was later fired as Assistant FBI Director. Rosenstein is said to have discussed recruiting cabinet members to depose Trump under the 25th Amendment. All of this is reportedly evidenced in memos, including those written by McCabe." Jarrett asks in the article, who is telling the truth? His answer follows : "Consider this: Is it any wonder that Rosenstein has refused to produce those records which Congress lawfully demanded months ago? Rosenstein has been trying to cover-up evidence of his own wrongdoing. This may constitute obstruction of justice by withholding incriminating evidence. Were Rosenstein’s words merely sarcasm, as some suggest? Here are two critical passages in the Time’s story : 'One participant asked whether Mr. Rosenstein was serious, and he replied animatedly that he was. According to the others who described his comments, Mr. Rosenstein not only confirmed that he was serious about the idea but also followed up by suggesting that other FBI officials who were interviewing to be the bureau’s director could also secretly record Mr. Trump.' This invites the question: did Robert Mueller, who interviewed with Trump to be FBI Director the day before he accepted the job as special counsel, wear a wire? Probably not. But as I explained in my book, 'The Russia Hoax,' Mueller may have been there to gather evidence against Trump during his interview with the President. It was one of the three reasons why Mueller should have recused himself. Yet, he refused to do so." Gregg Jarrett sees only one way forward : "Rosenstein should be fired immediately. Proposing to secretly record the President is, at the very least, a violation of regulations that govern a security clearance. Importantly, the entire special counsel investigation should be promptly terminated. This illegitimate probe has been tainted by corruption from the outset, and this is just the latest in a mountain of damning evidence. Rosenstein has been in charge of the Mueller probe. Yet, it is clear that he harbors an extreme bias against Trump. How can anyone now view the investigation as fair, objective and neutral? It is not. It never has been. The special counsel probe has been compromised and contaminated by Rosenstein’s actions, Mueller’s refusal to disqualify himself, the misconduct of former FBI agent Peter Strzok, and the obvious bias of lead prosecutor Andrew Weissmann. From the moment Trump was sworn in as President, saboteurs at the FBI and Justice Department have worked furiously to undue the election results and frame Trump for 'colluding' with Russia to win the 2016 Presidential election. They conjured a false case based on a fabricated 'Dossier' paid for by Hillary Clinton’s campaign and composed by a British spy who was fired for lying. They misappropriated that document to launch the Trump-Russia investigation without probable cause. They then exploited the same 'Dossier' to wiretap a Trump campaign associate, Carter Page. In the process, they concealed vital evidence and deceived FISA judges, perpetrating a fraud on the court. Those who abused their positions of power to subvert the rule of law and undermine the democratic process should be held accountable. It should begin with the firing of Rod Rosenstein. It should end with a presentment to a grand jury for potential criminal indictments." • But, that wasn't all Gregg Jarrett had to say about Rod Rosenstein. Earlier, last Wednesday, Jarrett told Fox News : "If Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein defies President Trump’s declassification order, he should be fired for rank insubordination." On Monday, President Trump issued an immediate declassification order of the 20 redacted Carter Page FISA docs and other records related to the Russia probe. The Democrats immediately got to work to stop the truth from getting out to the public. The ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff, said Trump’s declassification order “crossed a red line.” Jarrett noted in a Fox Op-Ed that : "In a shocking letter intended to undermine the President, and his authority over the Executive Branch, multiple high ranking Democrats sent a letter ordering intelligence agencies to ignore Trump’s order to declassify numerous documents involving the Russia investigation until consulting with Congress. The DOJ and FBI are working with the Director of National Intelligence to comply with President Trump’s order. The process should take just a few days; however, congressional sources now fear intel agencies will slow-roll the process to frustrate President Trump and others who want these documents released to the public. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein signed the June 2017 FISA renewal -- one month after he appointed Robert Mueller as special counsel to investigate Trump-Russia collusion. It is in Rod Rosenstein’s best interest to keep the June 2017 Carter Page FISA docs redacted and under lock and key -- he is in a lot of trouble and he knows it....if DAG Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray defy the President’s order and continue to obstruct lawful subpoenas, they should both be fired for rank insubordination. While Schiff is notorious for hyperbole, his assertion of a 'red line' is rather stunning. Does it mean Rosenstein and Wray will defy the President’s direct order and continue to obstruct lawful subpoenas issued by congress? If so, they should be fired for rank insubordination. In the alternative, they may endeavor to delay or 'slow roll' the release of documents hoping that the political winds may shift or that control of Congress itself will change hands in the upcoming election. Rosenstein has every reason to suppress the records. They may incriminate him. He affixed his signature to the final renewal of the FISA warrant application to continue spying on Carter Page. He vouched for the authenticity and veracity of the information contained therein. But, if it was largely based on a 'Dossier' that was unverified and uncorroborated, Rosenstein may have been complicit in misusing his position of power in pursuit of a President who was wrongfully targeted by the FBI and DOJ." • Fox News opinion host Laura Ingraham also advised Trump to take the scorched Earth approach on the Justice Department, a bureaucracy he described this week as being inflicted by "a cancer." Ingraham said : "The President, tonight, should seriously consider whether Rod Rosenstein should remain on the job. The White House should be devoting every resource it can to determining the veracity of this report. We just cannot have this plotting at the highest levels of the Justice Department against the chief executive of this executive branch." • • • THE 25th AMENDMENT. It was the UK Express that went into some detail about the 25th Amendment, writing : "The 25th amendment can be invoked by the Vice-President with the support of a majority of top executive branch members or other bodies as defined by Congress. If the amendment is invoked, power is passed to the Vice-President, who becomes acting President." • The 25th Amendment is straightforward. "Amendment XXV - Presidential Vacancy, Disability, and Inability. 1: In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President. 2: Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress. 3: Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President. 4: Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President. Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office." • • • DEAR READERS, the New York Post reported on Friday that : "President Trump hinted Friday that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein may not be working at the Department of Justice much longer. During a campaign rally in Springfield, Missouri, Trump suggested that about '95 percent' of people at the Department of Justice and the FBI supported him, 'but you’ve got some real bad ones,' pointing out that at the FBI 'they’re all gone.' 'But there’s a lingering stench and we’re going to get rid of that too,' Trump proclaimed." • The NYPost was pushing a "firing" that Trump's media advisors are rejecting full force. Fox News opinion host Sean Hannity said Friday night. "I have a message for the President tonight. Under zero circumstances should the President fire anybody." Hannity suggested "Deep-State" actors within the Justice Department were tempting Trump to impulsively fire Rosenstein, who is overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. Firing Rosenstein could have grave implications for Trump, who is already under scrutiny for possibly obstructing justice by firing Comey. Hannity said : "These actors tonight§...they are hoping and praying that the President does just that. They're hoping he gets mad, that he gets sick and tired of it, and that they can turn this politically into their equivalent of a Friday Night Massacre. The President needs to know it is all a setup." • Tucker Carlson, another opinion host on Fox News, also suggested the NYT's report was a trap and floated the idea that McCabe, who was fired by Trump 26 hours before his official retirement, leaked the memos since he "has every incentive to want to see the President impeached." McCabe would "do that knowing that the story might cause the President to fire Rod Rosenstein," and give probable cause for Democrats to file impeachment proceedings, Carlson said on his show. Carlson also noted : "If you were laying a trap for Donald Trump, this might be exactly how you'd do it. Before moving forward, thePresident might ask himself, 'why do [Andrew] McCabe and the New York Times want me to fire Rod Rosenstein? And why do they want me to do it now, rather than a year ago?' When your enemies give you political advice, it's worth asking questions like that," Carlson added. • Later, new hints were coming from the Trump White House, suggesting that he is not going to fire Rosenstein or anyone else because of "the 25th Amendment remarks." • These are perilous times and they require cool and steady reactions not only from the White House senior staff and advisors but also from the conservative media that indirectly advises President Trump. The satisfaction we would all feel in a clean sweep of the upper echelons of the FBI and DOJ could soon dissipate into horror as we would watch the spectacle of the entire Progressive elite and their propagandist media going after our President as the vultures they are. Better to play the long game, knowing that there is nothing the ProgDems have that could become the basis for impeachment. We do not want to give them the ammunition they lack for their unconstitutional Saturday Night Special attack. • NOTE : Sorry to be a little late this evening. I was watching Tiger Woods win the Tour Championship. He was the Tiger of old with all the confidence and shots he needed. I teared up watching him walk up the 18th fairway to the green with the sea of fans behind him. He truly has been To Hell and Back, and golf is better for having him once more fit and in the fray. Congratulations Tiger, and thank you for making the supreme personal effort that brought you and Pro Golf this victory.