Dem: Axing deputy AG would help obstruction case

Updated 3:17 p.m.

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The House Judiciary Committee’s top-ranking Democrat says President Donald Trump could add to a case of obstructing justice if he were to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

Rep. Jerry Nadler did not specifically mention impeachment in a CNN interview on Monday. But Nadler also said he would not rule out any legal option were he to become Judiciary chairman if Democrats win a House majority in November.

Nadler’s statements come amid signs that Rosenstein’s job could be in jeopardy after news reports that the deputy attorney general raised the possibility of secretly taping Trump and of invoking the 25th amendment to have Cabinet officers remove Trump from office.

Rosenstein denies the reports.

Rosenstein oversees the special counsel’s Russia investigation.

The White House says Trump and Rosenstein will meet Thursday.

Thursday is the same day that Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, and a woman who has accused him of sexually assaulting her when they were teenagers, are set to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders says Trump and Rosenstein had “an extended conversation” Monday “to discuss the recent news stories” at Rosenstein’s request.

Rosenstein, who oversees special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia election meddling, had been expecting to be fired Monday following after critical comments he made about Trump.

Trump is currently in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, so the two will meet Thursday “when the President returns to Washington, D.C.”