Nah,
Wiki
Dismissal
On May 8, 2017, Trump directed
Attorney General Sessions and
Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein to provide advice and input in writing.
[47] On Trump's direction, on May 9, Rosenstein prepared and delivered a
memorandum to Sessions relating to Comey
(Sessions and Rosenstein had already begun considering whether to dismiss Comey months earlier).
[47] Rosenstein's memorandum said that the "reputation and credibility" of the FBI had been damaged under Comey's tenure, and the memo presented critical quotes from several former attorneys general in previously published op-eds;
Rosenstein concluded that their "nearly unanimous opinions" were that Comey's handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation was "wrong."[5] In his memo, Rosenstein asserted that the FBI must have "a Director who understands the gravity of the mistakes and pledges never to repeat them." He ended with an argument against keeping Comey as FBI director,
on the grounds that he was given an opportunity to "admit his errors" but that there is no hope that he will "implement the necessary corrective actions."[48] Rosenstein also criticized Comey on two other grounds: for usurping the prerogative of the Justice Department and the Attorney General in his July 2016 public statements announcing the closure of the investigation into Clinton's emails, and for making derogatory comments about Clinton in that same meeting.
[49] Both of these actions, he argued, were in conflict with longstanding FBI practice. To Comey's previous defense that Attorney General
Loretta Lynch had a conflict of interest, Rosenstein argued that in such a case, it is the duty of the Attorney General to recuse herself, and that there is a process for another Justice Department official to take over her duties.
[50]