Democrats call for deputy attorney general Rosenstein to resign

Democrats called for Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to resign Friday after it was reported that he was not going to appoint a special prosecutor in the investigation into alleged Russian meddling in our election and collusion with the Trump campaign.

"I support @SenatorDurbin's call for Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to resign if he is unwilling to appoint a special counsel," tweeted Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).

Democrats and other critics of the president had pinned their hopes on Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein appointing a special prosecutor after questions arose from James Comey's firing Tuesday. Those hopes were dashed with CNN reporting Friday that he was refusing to do so.

"This morning, the president tweeted a thinly veiled threat to Mr. Comey," Senator Durbin (D-Ill.) said,  "which could be construed as threatening a witness in this investigation, which is another violation of federal law. To preserve his reputation as a credible prosecutor, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein must appoint an independent special prosecutor to pursue possible criminal charges, or he must resign."

Durbin was referring to a tweet posted Friday morning on Trump's account that read, "James Comey better hope that there are no "tapes" of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!"

This inspired countless comparisons to Richard Nixon being ensnared by the recordings he made of interactions in the Oval Office.

Rosenstein has been at the center of the furor surrounding Comey's firing from the FBI as the Trump administration said early on that he was fired because of the deputy attorney general's recommendation. Later, President Trump himself said that he would have fired Comey even apart from the recommendation. 

Trump also said that he wanted the investigation into Russian collusion to be "absolutely done properly," after saying there was nothing to the allegations.