McCabe leaked this story in hopes that Trump would fire Rosenstein. For that reason alone, Trump needs to keep him on. Trump has nothing to lose in the Mueller investigation since he didn’t do anything wrong. But if Trump fires Rosenstein, Mueller will call it obstruction of justice.
Trump needs to hold the cards for now.
Rosenstein reviews Mueller’s report before it is released to the public. He would have to approve a Mueller subpoena of Trump. Rosenstein is the gatekeeper on the release of DOJ and FBI information to Congress.
Keeping Rosenstein in place has its downside as well. He is part of the cabal that is still trying to takeout the President. His May16, 2017 meeting with McCabe, Page, et. al. was a strategy meeting on how to deal with Trump. They had a disagreement on tactics, but not the ultimate objective. The fact that McCabe felt comfortable discussing these matters with his boss and in front of the other participants at the meeting demonstrates how unified they were. The next day Rosenstein appointed Mueller as SC.
Oh, for God’s sake, fire Rosensteen and then have the replacement dump Mooler. Enough of this stupid episode.
There’s no strateegery, 3D chess, checkers, or anything here, just plain subterfuge and an intractable situation. Trump should have dumped the lot of them last May, but there’s still time now to fix it.
“Never do what your enemy desires, for this reason alone - that he desires it” - Bonaparte