White House Says Trump Will Meet With Rosenstein Thursday
*By Christian Smith*
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein reportedly offered his verbal resignation to White House Chief of Staff John Kelly on Monday but was told to wait for the president. As of Monday evening, he still has a job ー for now.
Rosenstein's undetermined fate will have consequences for Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, said Jonna Spilbor, a former prosecutor.
"I think it is going to affect the Mueller investigation in a good way for all of those who think that this investigation has been one long run-on sentence that we need to put a period at the end of," Spilbor said Monday in an interview on Cheddar.
Several reports suggested Rosenstein would either resign or be fired Monday ー following an explosive piece in The New York Times last week that he had considered secretly taping conversations with the president and discussed soliciting cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment, which would start impeachment proceedings. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters that Trump will meet with Rosenstein on Thursday after the president's return from the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
In the event that Rosenstein is fired, a replacement might re-invigorate the Russia probe, Spilbor said.
"The replacement for Rod Rosenstein will say, 'Ok, you've got 30 days,' ー let's pick an arbitrary number ー 'Give me my report because at the end of that 30 days, I'm going to decide if you live or die,'" Spilbor said.
The Justice Department appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller as special counsel on May 17 of last year to lead an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Multiple Trump campaign officials have pleaded guilty to charges ranging from bank fraud to obstruction of justice, but no charges related to Russian collusion have been filed ー which is why Spilbor believes the investigation is dragging.
"The investigation has been going on far too long and with far too few results. Why do we keep it going?" Spilbor said.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/how-rosensteins-possible-doj-departure-could-impact-the-russia-investigation).
The U.S. is back in negotiations for a nuclear deal with Iran, years after former President Donald Trump withdrew the country from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which had been meant to curtail the Middle Eastern nation's nuclear ambitions. Former State Department senior advisor to the George W. Bush and Trump administrations, Christian Whiton, joined Cheddar News Wrap to discuss. “It appears to be very similar to the original JCPOA, which does put some constraints on Iran's nuclear program, but also has sunset provisions, including some that in the original plan were expected to take effect in 2025," he said. "And so, if we just reenter that plan, really it just buys perhaps a few years of slowing down, stopping, whatever you want to say, Iran's nuclear program."
The U.S. has announced the first of what could be multiple levels of sanctions against Russia after Moscow recognized two regions of Ukraine as independent. This comes as Britain imposes sanctions on five Russian banks and two oligarchs, and Germany freezes the Nord Stream gas pipeline. Terrell Star, a foreign affairs reporter at The Atlantic Council, joins from Kyiv to discuss.
Growing tensions in Ukraine might soon be impacting consumers in the United States. With Russia on an invasion footing in the region, gas prices are predicted to go up 10 to 15 cents a gallon in the next coming weeks, according to Robert Sinclair, spokesperson for AAA. Sinclair joined Cheddar to break down what could happen even further. "We've been seeing prices go up, and there's been nothing that's happened to affect supplies," he said. "But it's something known as the fear tax where just the talk of something that might interfere with supplies leads to prices going up speculatively."
The end of 3G is upon us. On Tuesday, AT&T became the first major provider to disable its 3G services, and T-Mobile and Verizon plan to follow suit later this year. The shutdowns are expected to impact millions of vehicles that use 3G networks for updates, remote connection, and certain emergency and convenience features. Lance Ulanoff, the U.S. Editor-in-Chief of TechRadar, joined Cheddar's Closing Bell to discuss the ramifications of the changeover.
A new report shows nearly 240 former officials in Congress, the White House, and regulatory agencies have changed careers to work in the crypto industry.
President Biden unveiled new economic sanctions on Russia for what he called "the beginning of a Russian invasion". This came one day after Putin sent troops into two breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine. Alex Ward, national security reporter for POLITICO, explains what these sanctions might do to the global economy.
U.S. stocks ended today's session sharply lower on the heels of rising geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine. Melissa Brown, Managing Director of Applied Research at Qontigo, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
President Joe Biden said Tuesday that the U.S. will begin to impose sanctions on Russia, calling recent troop movement into Ukraine an 'invasion.' Biden and other government officials including from the State Department have begun to classify the Russian troop movement as an invasion after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops to two independent Ukrainian areas in an alleged "peacekeeping" mission — which the West considers an act of aggression. Biden said Russia will continue to pay 'an even steeper price' if it continues sending troops into Ukraine. What happens next? Will Putin find a way around these sanctions? Ariel Cohen, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, joins Closing Bell to discuss Biden's remarks, how the West will protect Ukraine since it doesn't belong to NATO, and more.
