* Julia Ainsley reports that Rod Rosenstein is feeling very zen these days:

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has struck a stoic and righteous tone in private conversations he has had this week about the fate of his job as President Donald Trump has launched public criticism against him and considered firing him, according to three sources who have spoken to Rosenstein.

In those conversations, he has repeated the phrase, “Here I stand,” a reference to Martin Luther’s famous quote, “Here I stand, I can do no other.” Coincidentally, former FBI Director James Comey, whom Rosenstein fired, repeated the same phrase to President George W. Bush in a conversation that has been widely reported and that Comey describes in his forthcoming book.

One source who spoke to Rosenstein said he seemed fully aware he may soon lose his job and was at peace with the possibility, confident he had done his job with integrity.

Rosenstein has said in recent private conversations that history will prove he did the right thing by firing Comey in May 2017, claiming that the American people do not have all the facts about what led to his decision to write the memo that led to Comey’s dismissal, the sources said.

That last part is a reminder that the stated reason for firing Comey was that he had treated Hillary Clinton unfairly, which while true is the opposite of what President Trump believes.

* Tom Hamburger, Ellen Nakashima, Beth Reinhard, and Emma Brown report that Michael Cohen’s negotiation services are available for people beyond Donald Trump:

President Trump’s embattled personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, negotiated a $1.6 million deal in late 2017 with a former Playboy model on behalf of a prominent Republican fundraiser who had impregnated her, according to people familiar with the deal.

Los Angeles investor Elliott Broidy, who has been a major financial supporter of the president, issued a statement Friday acknowledging that he “had a consensual relationship with a Playboy Playmate” who got pregnant. He said he retained Cohen after the Trump lawyer told Broidy he had been contacted by the woman’s attorney.

Read the whole article to learn about the web that connects Briody to both Stormy Daniels and the Mueller investigation!

* Zane Anthony, Kathryn Sanders, and David Fahrenthold report that the Trump brand ain’t what it used to be:

Before he ran for office, Donald Trump made millions by selling his name to adorn other people’s products. There was Trump deodorant. Trump ties . Trump steaks. Trump underwear. Trump furniture. At one time, there was even a Trump-branded urine test.

Now, almost all of them are gone.

In 2015, Trump listed 19 companies that were paying him to produce or distribute Trump-branded consumer goods.

In recent weeks, only two said they are still selling Trump-branded goods. One is a Panamanian company selling Trump bed linens and home goods. The other is a Turkish company selling Trump furniture.

Of the rest, some Trump partners quit in reaction to campaign-trail rhetoric on immigrants and Muslims. Others said their licensing agreements had expired. Others said nothing beyond confirming that they’d stopped working with Trump. Their last Trump goods are now being sold off, often at a discount: One cologne is marked down from $42 to $9.99 for an ounce.

“Success by Trump,” the website says. And below that: “Clearance.”

Ah, the smell of it.

* Ashley Parker, Carol Leonnig, Josh Dawsey, and Tom Hamburger report that Trump’s allies are very worried that prosecutors now may have tapes Michael Cohen recorded of himself talking to his client Donald Trump.

* John Wagner, Matt Zapotosky, and Josh Dawsey report that Trump has issued a pardon to former Dick Cheney aide Scooter Libby, who was convicted in a case involving his leak of the name of a covert CIA operative to the media.

* Alexia Fernández Campbell explains how undocumented immigrants pay billions of dollars in taxes every year.