bloomberg | Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein told President Donald Trump
last week that he isn’t a target of any part of Special Counsel Robert
Mueller’s investigation or the probe into his longtime lawyer, Michael
Cohen, according to several people familiar with the matter.
Rosenstein,
who brought up the investigations himself, offered the assurance during
a meeting with Trump at the White House last Thursday, a development
that helped tamp down the president’s desire to remove Rosenstein or
Mueller, the people said.
After the meeting, Trump told some of his closest advisers that it’s
not the right time to remove either man since he’s not a target of the
probes. One person said Trump doesn’t want to take any action that would
drag out the investigation.
The change in attitude by the president comes after weeks of
attacks on the special counsel and the Justice Department, raising
questions about whether he might take drastic steps to shut down the
probes.
The
shift gives some breathing room for Mueller, as well as Rosenstein, who
has been criticized strongly by House Republicans for being slow to
comply with requests for classified documents. Last week’s meeting was
set up in part to allow Rosenstein to assuage Trump’s frustration with
his decisions.
U.S. stocks pared their decline on the news. The
S&P 500 Index closed down 0.6 percent in New York trading after an
earlier slump of as much as 1 percent.
Rosenstein’s message may
have been based on a technicality. Trump may not officially be a target,
but Mueller hasn’t ruled out making him one at some point in the
future, according to a U.S. official with knowledge of the unfolding
investigation.
