Skip to main content

Congressman Matt Gaetz Issues Statement in Response to Deputy AG Rosenstein Suggesting to Secretly Record President Trump, Invoke 25th Amendment

September 24, 2018

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Congressman Matt Gaetz (FL-01) today issued the following statement regarding the allegations against Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein that appeared today in the New York Times and other sources.

"Today, the New York Times reported that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein suggested secretly recording President Trump. The Times and other news outlets also reported that Mr. Rosenstein hoped to "recruit" some of President Trump's Cabinet members into invoking the 25th Amendment, thereby removing President Trump from office.

These assertions, however, are based entirely on anonymous sources, which are far from a guarantee of veracity. Furthermore, the reports differ in their assessment of Mr. Rosenstein's intent in saying these words. Some sources claim he was speaking in jest; others say that he was serious.

Unverified gossip does not equal probable cause — except, it would seem, in the case of FISA warrants against then-candidate Trump — and it is worth noting that Mr. Rosenstein quickly and categorically denied these claims.

Though I have many objections to Mr. Rosenstein's performance as Deputy Attorney General — including ignoring multiple Congressional subpoenas, refusing to confirm information under oath, failure to properly vet FISA warrants that he signed, unnecessarily redacting key documents turned over to Congressional investigators, threatening staff members of the Intelligence Committee with retribution, refusing to turn over the document that outlines the scope of the Special Counsel's investigation, and eroding the American people's faith in the Department of Justice — until concrete evidence emerges, these accusations remain salacious and unverified, and should be treated with a healthy dose of skepticism.

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. Needless to say, if these inflammatory and disturbing claims are true, they constitute grounds for Mr. Rosenstein's immediate removal. These remarks are an insidious attack on President Trump, and an assault on the presidency as a whole," said Rep. Gaetz.