Rosenstein says 'yes, I do' stand by call to fire Comey

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, in an exclusive interview with Fox News that aired Wednesday night, stood by his recommendation that President Trump fire then-FBI Director James Comey and his hiring of former FBI Director Robert Mueller as a special counsel to oversee the Bureau’s investigation into Russian activities during last year’s election.

"I’ve testified several times about this and yes, I do," Rosenstein told "The Story with Martha MacCallum" when asked if he stood by his now-famous memo recommending Comey’s dismissal.

In the May 9 memo, Rosenstein said that Comey "was wrong to usurp the Attorney General’s authority" on July 5, 2016, when Comey announced that he would not recommend that Hillary Clinton be prosecuted for alleged offenses related to the presence of classified information on her personal email server.

"At most, [Comey] should have said the FBI had completed its investigation and presented its findings to federal prosecutors," Rosenstein wrote at the time. "The FBI Director is never empowered to supplant federal prosecutors and assume command of the Justice Department."

"There’s a principle in the Department of Justice," Rosenstein told Fox News’ Martha MacCallum, "that when we are investigating people, we do it confidentially."

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