Thread by @sethjlevy

1/ What Trump did was risky. Starting with nominating Rosenstein. At the height of the resistance he appointed a person that was confirmed 94-6. Rod wasn’t in the bag or a wingman. He was going to call balls and strikes. Do things by the book.

2/ People say Trump didn’t know Sessions would recuse. I disagree but maybe he didn’t. But to appoint RR DAG you would have to be 100% confident Sessions wouldn’t recuse. Or you were putting yourself at risk. IF! If you had done wrong or feared the deep state.

3/ Then not only does Trump not fire Rosenstein after he appoints Mueller, he also rebuffs an offer from Sessions to resign. As early as May of 2017. So Trump decides to leave things as they were. AFTER Mueller was appointed.

nytimes.com/2017/06/06/us/…

4/ Then Trump fully cooperates. Never withholds a single document. Never refuses a single witness. Not even the WH Counsel. Never makes a single claim of executive privilege. Dowd says Trump fully cooperated.

5/ It was a risk to put yourself in these people’s hands. But what were the alternatives? Leave the investigations in Comey’s hands? In McCabe’s? Appoint a wingman DAG to run a 1 month S.C. and say it was all BS? Just shut everything down and declare it a witch hunt on day 1?

6/ Trump took the biggest risk. He trusted Rosenstein. And Mueller. But as they say with big risks come big rewards. What is a #CleanBillOfHealth delivered by Rosenstein and Mueller worth? A whole hell of a lot!

7/ So no I don’t think Mueller was working for Trump or that the fix was in or that any of these people were white hats, whatever the hell that means. I do think Rod and Bob were aware of how corrupted and dangerous the FBI/DOJ had gotten in their resistance to Trump.

8/ These are people who value these institutions and saw they were on the verge of self destruction. They had enough integrity to do this job at this time under these circumstances. Trump trusted them and that trust has been rewarded. /end