Resigning his office in such circumstances may have enabled Rosenstein to sleep better.
And that is what likely drove his appointing Mueller, and allowing him wide berth.
I wouldnât call it ârevenge,â necessarily, but Iâm sure he was pissed off to be used that way.
It really is quite shocking how weak and corruptible some people are, especially if theyâre Republicans.
Rosenstein knew that Comey had not been fired for his mishandling of the Clinton investigation. He knew that he was being directed by the President to cook up a false pretext for the Comey firing. He knew that the direction to cook up a false pretext meant that the true reason for the firing could not be disclosed. He knew that true reason for firing Comey was, or very well might be, to stop Comey investigating the President and to deter others from doing so. He knew that this was, or very well might be, obstructive of justice.
Upon receiving the verbal direction from the President to cook up the memo, he should have written to the President recording the direction and seeking written confirmation of the direction. If the President gave the confirmation, he should have written back with his reservations and advised the president that the direction was unlawful and could not be executed. He should then have awaited the Presidentâs next move. If it meant being fired, so be it.
The sequence of events since Trump delared for office is so convoluted and byzantine itâs difficult to see the forest for the trees. Intentional or not, Rosenstein kept himself in position to appoint the Special Counsel that may ultimately spell Trumpâs doom. If nothing else Muellerâs investigation has severely hobbled and distracted Trumpâs administration.
If he did resign, we wouldnât have Mueller making so much progress as Special Counsel.
Even in the US, bureaucrats (State or Corporation) are accustomed to following orders. My personal experience was that many orders which came down were borderline wrong, but people will hope they havenât crossed the line by obeying them. âCompany menâ are another story.
If Rosenstein has a conscience, evidenced by his appointment of Muller whom he knew would be a bulldog, it is surely still tormented at what is happening to the DOJ under Trumpâs goon squad.
Well, Rosensteinâs âprotectionâ of Mueller lapses when Barr gets confirmedâŚ
TPM writer: âIn the memo Rosenstein wrote that Comey was fired over his handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation, not the Russia probe, as Trump later admitted.â
Not true. Rosensteinâs memo - whether or not edited by another or others before released to the public - does not say that at all. It reasons through some things that Comey had done which deviated materially from DoJ policy. It raised possible responses on the part of the DoJ as an agency., and of course those would include consideration of dismissal. It even expressed a view on whether the seriousness of Comeyâs willful departures from agency policy justified or demanded dismissal.
But it did NOT say, in effect, This is why Comey was fired, or anything amounting to that.
Sloppy writing, TPM reporter.
So, Andrew McCabe has a book coming out huh? Thatâs should be interesting.
Rosenstein didnât want to write the memo? My âsurprisedâ face: 
Iâd say a big threat was the cowardice of those in positions of power who took orders from a traitor to further destroy the government of the nation they are sworn to protect.
And then what? Another Whitaker?