On Monday, Rod Rosenstein seemed to be on his way out. Today, President Trump said he would prefer to keep his deputy attorney general on the job and let him "finish up" supervising the Russia probe.
Asked during a news conference at the United Nations whether he planned to fire Mr. Rosenstein, Mr. Trump said, “I would certainly prefer not doing that.”
Mr. Trump added: "We’ve had a good talk. He says he never said it, he doesn’t believe it, he gets a lot of respect from me. He’s very nice, and we’ll see.”
The president was referencing reports that Rosenstein allegedly suggested invoking the 25th Amendment to remove him from office.
Trump also said he may delay his Thursday meeting with Rosenstein at the White House so as not to conflict with the upcoming Kavanaugh hearing.
White House officials declined to say whether the meeting between Mr. Rosenstein and Mr. Trump had ever been planned for or put on the president’s calendar.
The president's press conference stance tracks with what The Washington Post reported Tuesday night.
While it remained possible that Rosenstein could still resign or be fired imminently, people inside and outside the department said it seemed increasingly more likely that Rosenstein would stay in the job until after November’s elections and then depart, probably along with the attorney general. Two White House officials said Tuesday that Trump is unlikely to fire Rosenstein until after the midterms.
Forcing out the deputy attorney general in the next month could motivate Trump’s detractors to turn out for elections in which dozens of congressional seats are in play and Republicans are fearful they are at risk of losing control of the House. And those who have observed Trump and Rosenstein together or have been told of their interactions said the president seemed to hold Rosenstein in somewhat higher regard than he did [Attorney General Jeff] Sessions.
“For all of the president’s bluster, I’m not sure he doesn’t have at least some grudging respect for Rod,” said James M. Trusty, a friend of Rosenstein and former Justice Department official who works in private practice at Ifrah Law.
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“I could see a situation where if he thought the relationship was utterly broken between he and his supervisory chain, which goes all the way to the president, then he could say, ‘Okay, this is not an effective model,’ ” he said.
But he said he doubts Trump would fire Rosenstein — mindful of the political damage it might do — and if Rosenstein does leave, he might not do so immediately. That is particularly significant, because some fear that whoever succeeds Rosenstein might stifle the Russia probe in ways Rosenstein hasn’t.
“If he stays to the end of the year, that might mean he’s going to shepherd the Mueller probe to the finish line,” Trusty said.
Trump Says He’s Open to Keeping Rod Rosenstein at Justice Dept. (NYT)