In some of Rosenstein’s first extended remarks since leaving the Justice Department last week, the former deputy attorney general called Comey’s dismissal, which set off a firestorm in Washington and resulted in the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller, “reasonable under the circumstances,” citing Comey’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation.
Rosenstein, who authored the memo that the Trump administration initially held up as the reason for Comey’s firing, said the president did not tell him what to put in that memo. And he said that though he didn’t dislike Comey — “On the contrary, I admired him personally” — the former FBI director crossed certain “bright lines” that were “not within the realm of reasonable decisions.”