--- title: James Comey Fired: Rod Rosenstein Will Brief Senators description: Mitch McConnell's office is scheduling a briefing for all senators next week to help explain James Comey's firing canonical: https://time.com/4776559/james-comey-firing-rod-rosenstein-senators/ author: Abigail Abrams article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-11T21:42:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T10:57:13.770Z article:section: Politics og:title: Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein Will Brief Senators on Comey Firing og:description: Mitch McConnell's office is scheduling the meeting og:url: https://time.com/4776559/james-comey-firing-rod-rosenstein-senators/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt964d93ae92b73a41/6988ccfc196cf498ee04013a/rod-rosenstein-deputy-attorney-general-james-comey-donald-trump-senators.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4828 og:image:height: 2716 og:image:alt: Nominees for Deputy Attorney General, Rod Rosenstein, and Rachel Brand nominated for Associate Attorney General og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein Will Brief Senators on Comey Firing twitter:description: Mitch McConnell's office is scheduling the meeting twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt964d93ae92b73a41/6988ccfc196cf498ee04013a/rod-rosenstein-deputy-attorney-general-james-comey-donald-trump-senators.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein Will Brief Senators on James Comey Firing > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Abigail Abrams](https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams May 11, 2017 9:42 PM UTC  Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, March 7, 2017. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, March 7, 2017. Melina Mara—The Washington Post/Getty Images by [Abigail Abrams](https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams May 11, 2017 9:42 PM UTC Deputy U.S. Attorney General Rod Rosenstein — whose memo was initially used as justification for President Donald Trump [fire FBI Director James Comey](http://time.com/4773210/donald-trump-fires-fbi-director-james-comey/) on Tuesday — will meet with all senators next week, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Thursday. Trump’s decision to fire the head of the FBI while the agency is still investigating ties between his presidential campaign and Russia has sparked [outrage and concern from many lawmakers](http://time.com/4773409/james-comey-donald-trump-congress-chuck-schumer/). Adding to the confusion, the [White House and the President have contradicted each other](http://time.com/4776388/james-comey-fired-trump-interview/?xid=homepage) about why Comey was fired, and other reports emerged that Rosenstein [threatened to quit](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/deputy-ag-rosenstein-verge-resigning-upset-wh-pinning/story?id=47342541) amid the controversy. After Comey’s firing on Tuesday, Democrats called for a special prosecutor to investigate Trump’s ties to Russia and suggested that the president could be engaging in a cover-up. “We know the FBI has been looking into to whether the Trump campaign colluded the Russians,” [Schumer said](http://time.com/4773409/james-comey-donald-trump-congress-chuck-schumer/). “Were these investigations getting too close to home for the president?” But some Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell were less upset. McConnell on Wednesday [defended Trump’s decision](After%20Comey%25E2%2580%2599s%20firing%20on%20Tuesday,%20Democrats%20called%20for%20a%20special%20prosecutor%20to%20investigate%20Trump%25E2%2580%2599s%20ties%20to%20Russia%20and%20suggested%20that%20the%20President%20could%20be%20engaging%20in%20a%20coverup.%20%20%25E2%2580%259CWe%20know%20the%20FBI%20has%20been%20looking%20into%20to%20whether%20the%20Trump%20campaign%20colluded%20the%20Russians,%25E2%2580%259D%20Schumer%20said.%20%25E2%2580%259CWere%20these%20investigations%20getting%20too%20close%20to%20home%20for%20the%20president%3F%25E2%2580%259D) to fire Comey, while other GOP lawmakers have expressed concern the saga could hamper their agenda. With all the tension, the meeting between Rosenstein and the Senate could help shed some light on the situation and help lawmakers determine their next steps. Schumer said in his tweet Thursday that McConnell had agreed to “an all-Senators briefing” and the move was “a good first step.” > [](https://twitter.com/SenSchumer/status/862773935808630785) For his part, McConnell’s office confirmed that it is “working on scheduling a briefing for all members” from Rosenstein, according to Lisa Desjardins, a correspondent for PBS NewsHour. > [](https://twitter.com/LisaDNews/status/862777237392822272) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4776559/james-comey-firing-rod-rosenstein-senators/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4776559/james-comey-firing-rod-rosenstein-senators/"},"headline":"Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein Will Brief Senators on James Comey Firing","datePublished":"2017-05-11T21:42:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T10:57:13.770Z","description":"Mitch McConnell's office is scheduling the meeting","url":"https://time.com/4776559/james-comey-firing-rod-rosenstein-senators/","keywords":["Congress","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt964d93ae92b73a41/6988ccfc196cf498ee04013a/rod-rosenstein-deputy-attorney-general-james-comey-donald-trump-senators.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Abigail Abrams","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt964d93ae92b73a41/6988ccfc196cf498ee04013a/rod-rosenstein-deputy-attorney-general-james-comey-donald-trump-senators.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Nominees for Deputy Attorney General, Rod Rosenstein, and Rachel Brand nominated for Associate Attorney General","caption":"Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, March 7, 2017.","creditText":"Melina Mara—The Washington Post/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4776559/james-comey-firing-rod-rosenstein-senators/","name":"Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein Will Brief Senators on James Comey Firing"}}]}] ```