Dear Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein:
It’s
rare that any single person has to bear as much responsibility for
safeguarding American democracy as you find yourself carrying now. Even
before President Trump’s shocking decision on Tuesday to fire the F.B.I. director, James Comey,
a dark cloud of suspicion surrounded this president, and the very
integrity of the electoral process that put him in office. At this
fraught moment you find yourself, improbably, to be the person with the
most authority to dispel that cloud and restore Americans’ confidence in
their government. We sympathize; that’s a lot of pressure.
Given
the sterling reputation you brought into this post — including a
27-year career in the Justice Department under five administrations, and
the distinction of being the longest-serving United States attorney in
history — you no doubt feel a particular anguish, and obligation to act.
As the author of the memo that the president cited in firing Mr. Comey, you are now deeply implicated in that decision.
It
was a solid brief; Mr. Comey’s misjudgments in his handling of the
F.B.I. investigation of Hillary Clinton’s private email server were
indeed serious. Yet you must know that these fair criticisms were mere
pretext for Mr. Trump, who dumped Mr. Comey just as he was seeking more resources to investigate ties between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.
You must also know that in ordering you to write the memo, Mr. Trump exploited the integrity
you have earned over nearly three decades in public service, spending
down your credibility as selfishly as he has spent other people’s money
throughout his business career. We can only hope that your lack of an
explicit recommendation to fire Mr. Comey reflects your own refusal to
go as far as the president wanted you to.
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In
any case, the memo is yours, and that has compromised your ability to
oversee any investigations into Russian meddling. But after Attorney
General Jeff Sessions recused himself
from these matters, because of his own contacts during the campaign
with the Russians, the power to launch a truly credible investigation
has fallen to you, and you alone.
You
have one choice: Appoint a special counsel who is independent of both
the department and the White House. No one else would have the standing
to assure the public it is getting the truth. While a handful of
Republican senators and representatives expressed concern at Mr. Comey’s
firing, there is as yet no sign that the congressional investigations
into Russian interference will be properly staffed or competently run.
And Americans can have little faith that the Justice Department, or an
F.B.I. run by Mr. Trump’s handpicked replacement, will get to the bottom
of whether and how Russia helped steal the presidency for Mr. Trump.
In
theory, no one should have a greater interest in a credible
investigation than the president, who has repeatedly insisted the
suspicions about his campaign are baseless. Yet rather than try to douse
suspicions, he has shown he is more than willing to inflame them by
impeding efforts to get to the truth.
Given
your own reputation for probity, you must be troubled as well by the
broader pattern of this president’s behavior, including his contempt for
ethical standards of past presidents. He has mixed his business
interests with his public responsibilities. He has boasted that
conflict-of-interest laws do not apply to him as president. And from the
moment he took office, Mr. Trump has shown a despot’s willingness to
invent his own version of the truth and to weaponize the federal
government to confirm that version, to serve his ego and to pursue
vendettas large and small.
When
Mrs. Clinton won the popular vote by nearly three million votes, for
instance, he created a Voter Fraud Task Force to back up his claim that
the margin resulted from noncitizens voting illegally (the task force
has done nothing to date). When there was no evidence for his claim that
President Barack Obama had wiretapped Trump Tower, Mr. Trump demanded that members of Congress put their work aside in order to dig up “facts” to support it.
Firing Mr. Comey — who, in addition to leading the Russia investigation, infuriated Mr. Trump by refusing to give any credence
to his wiretapping accusation — is only the latest and most stunning
example. The White House can’t even get its own story straight about why
Mr. Trump took this extraordinary step.
Few
public servants have found themselves with a choice as weighty as
yours, between following their conscience and obeying a leader trying to
evade scrutiny — Elliot Richardson and William Ruckelshaus, who behaved
nobly in Watergate, come to mind. You can add your name to this short,
heroic list. Yes, it might cost you your job. But it would save your
honor, and so much more besides.
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