Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) called on House leaders on Thursday to bring in Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to testify before the House Judiciary Committee.
Gaetz, who is a member on the House Judiciary Committee, said he’s hopeful that speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) will invite Rosenstein to testify, saying the announcement “could actually come today or tomorrow.”
“Chairman [Mark] Meadows has had productive conversations with the speaker, but that’s the outcome we seek before we leave town, knowing that Rosenstein will be under oath because unless you get testimony under oath, it’s all this like leaks and rumors and you don’t really know what happened,” Gaetz told Hill.TV co-hosts Krystal Ball and Buck Sexton on “Rising.”
The Republican congressman added it’s unclear whether Rosenstein will resign or be fired following his meeting with President Trump.
During a press conference on Wednesday, Trump said he had spoken with Rosenstein following last week’s bombshell New York Times report, which claimed that Rosenstein considered secretly recording Trump and removing the president from office by invoking the 25th amendment. Rosenstein has denied the report.
At the press conference, Trump signaled that he is leaning towards keeping Rosenstein on the job.
“As the president likes to say, ‘we’ll see.’ “ Gaetz told “Rising.”
Gaetz has repeatedly warned that Rosenstein could face articles of impeachment if he doesn’t agree to testify before the House Judiciary Committee.
The congressman told Fox News that he and Chairman of the House Freedom Caucus Mark Meadows were prepared to call for Rosenstein’s impeachment and “force the vote.”
But Republicans in Congress remain divided over the deputy attorney general’s future.
Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) broke with House conservatives on Wednesday, saying Congress should defer to the Trump administration when it comes to Rosenstein’s fate, and Goodlatte so far has shown no indication that he plans to invite Rosenstein to testify.
House Republicans, meanwhile, are expected to leave Washington at the end of the week to campaign ahead of the midterm elections.
— Tess Bonn
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