Rosenstein leak fallout

Current and former administration officials said they fully expected President Trump to dismiss staff inside the Justice Department following reports that Rosenstein had contemplated—sarcastically, his defenders say—the idea of wiretapping the president or removing him from office via the 25th Amendment. Less clear was how many people will get the ax and when, exactly, it will fall.

[...]

And another official said that there’s concern that Rosenstein’s potential firing would clear the way for an even more dramatic overhaul of DOJ leadership after the midterm elections. For months, officials have expected such a shake-up––speculation fueled in no small part by the president’s frequent tweets referring to the Department of Justice in scare quotes.

[...]

“Trump is gonna go on a jihad,” one former senior White House official told The Daily Beast. The official speculated that Rosenstein’s comments were leaked with just that reaction in mind. “The NYT op-ed gave an opportunity to really drive home the deep state stuff. With this new story, it gives additional credibility.”

  The Daily Beast

Yeah, and what's with the Times?

Inside the Justice Department’s Washington headquarters, officials immediately started speculating that Rosenstein’s foes would use the story to try to push him out.

You think?!

“Of all the sinister efforts to topple Rosenstein, this one is surely the most conniving yet. There’s of course an irony to the fact that Trump publicly threatened to have taped Comey, but now he will feign outrage that Rosenstein purportedly considered taping him.”

He hasn't tweeted yet. He has to confer with Sean Hannity first.*

With today’s report, the odds seemed to drop that Trump even makes it to the midterms before changing up his staff.

Indeed.

"The bottom line is, it harms everyone,” said David Rivkin, a former Justice Department official under two Republican administrations. “It harms Rosenstein, it harms the institution, it harms the president. It's all bad. It really depresses me.

Well, Dave, now you know how the rest of us feel about November 2016.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

*I forgot. He's spewing bile in Missouri tonight.  The tweets will have to wait.  But not too long, I'm quite certain.

UPDATE