President Donald Trump promised to get rid of a “lingering stench” in the Department of Justice at his Missouri rally Friday night. Although the president didn’t name any specific officials, his statement came on the same day The New York Times published disparaging news of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
The report stated that last year Rosenstein suggested he may have worn a wire to record conversations with Trump; he may have also discussed the possibility of invoking the 25th Amendment, which allows for the removal of a president unfit for office. Rosenstein denies these claims.
“I never pursued or authorized recording the president and any suggestion that I have ever advocated for the removal of the president is absolutely false,” he said in a statement Friday night.
Trump did not specifically mention the Rosenstein report at the rally, CNN reports, but he did say there are “some real bad ones” who don’t support him.
“We have great people in the Department of Justice,” said Trump. “But we had some real bad ones—you see what’s happened at the FBI, they’re all gone.”
Just last month, FBI agent Peter Strzok was fired among reports he sent anti-Trump texts to a colleague.
“But there’s a lingering stench and we’re going to get rid of that, too,” he added. “Just look at what is now being exposed in our Department of Justice and the FBI. Look at what’s going on.”