Rosenstein to Democrat senator: Trump did not commit 'a crime that warrants prosecution'

Former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on Wednesday appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee at an oversight hearing about the Crossfire Hurricane investigation and denied that he has ever suggested removing President Trump from office using the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

"I did not suggest or hint at secretly recording President Trump," Rosenstein also said during questioning from Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono.

The Hawaiian senator blasted the hearing as a ploy to bolster President Trump's "conspiracy theories and to help the president's reelection" and said that it "wastes this committee's time."

Hirono asked Rosenstein if he concurred with Attorney General Barr's statement in a letter to Congress, in which Barr wrote that, "Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and I have concluded that the evidence developed during the Special Counsel's investigation is not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense."

"Did Attorney General Barr accurately present your view regarding the obstruction of justice?" Hirono asked.

"Senator I do not believe that the evidence collected by the special counsel warrants prosecution of the president, that is correct," Rosenstein replied.

The senator pressed the issue of the letter again and asked Rosenstein if he concurred "that there was no obstruction of justice involved?" 

Rosenstein responded to the senator, reiterating his previous response: "Yes, I do not believe that the president committed a crime that warrants prosecution. And that's the issue that we review as prosecutors."