Rosenstein to appear for House interview next week

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is slated to appear for an interview with a pair of House committees next week after the panels postponed a meeting with the senior Justice Department official earlier this month.

Rosensenstein is set to appear in front of the chairmen and ranking members of the House Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform committees next Wednesday, the panels announced Thursday.

{mosads}He is scheduled to appear for a transcribed interview with Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Oversight Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), along with Reps. Jerry Nadler (N.Y.) and Elijah Cummings (Md.), the top Democrats on the panels.

A transcript of the interview will be made public after being reviewed by the intelligence community, according to the panels.

Lawmakers have been itching to grill Rosenstein over a report last month that he had considered wearing a wire to record President Trump in the Oval Office.

The New York Times reported that Rosenstein also discussed the possibility of Cabinet officials invoking the 25th Amendment last year to remove Trump from office.

Rosenstein and the Justice Department fiercely disputed the story and some news outlets have reported that the comments were reportedly made in jest.

The report’s release sparked speculation that Trump would fire Rosenstein, though the president said earlier this month that he had no plans of doing so. The House Judiciary Committee, however, threatened to subpoena Rosenstein to get him to testify over the report.

“It is essential that we talk to him — he knows that,” Goodlatte told Fox News on Monday. “He has not agreed to come for a transcribed interview on the record. He needs to do that, and if he does not agree to do that very soon, I will issue a subpoena for him to appear.”

Rosenstein has been frequently been targeted by Trump’s allies on Capitol Hill. The No. 2 Justice Department official has been overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe since Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the matter.

This summer, a group of conservative House lawmakers introduced articles of impeachment against Rosenstein, accusing him of “unacceptable conduct.” GOP representatives criticized Rosenstein for failing to produce documents related to a congressional investigation into FBI decision making during the 2016 presidential election.