Update: 3:35 p.m. Monday — Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein will remain put for now, but will meet with President Donald Trump Thursday to discuss his job, the Washington Post reports.
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By Steve Neavling
Ticklethewire.com
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who has worked to keep the Justice Department in line with its mission, is considering resigning, the Washington Post reports.
The paper reports that Rosenstein told the White House he’s willing to resign, but it was unclear if the resignation has been accepted.
One Justice Department official tells the Post Rosenstein was on his way to the White House on Monday and was preparing to be fired. But the official said Rosenstein is not resigning.
Meanwhile, in earlier reports, President Trump said he has not decided whether to fire Rosenstein following a New York Times report, that stated he discussed secretly recording the president and invoking the 25th Amendment to remove him from office.
Asked whether he feels unsettled about Rosenstein, who is overseeing Robert Mueller’s Russia probe, Trump said his administration is investigating.
“I’m not unsettled about anything, but I’ll tell you what. We are looking at it,” Trump told host Geraldo Rivera in an interview Sunday for his new show on WTAM radio in Cleveland. “It’s very early. We just read the reports. . . . We will make a determination.”
Trump also indicated Rosenstein was “hired by Jeff Sessions.”
“I was not involved in that process, because you know they go out and get their own deputies and the people that work in the department,” Trump said. “Jeff Sessions hired him.”
Trump has lashed out at Sessions since he recused himself from the Russia investigation, a decision that gave Rosenstein the authority to appoint a special counsel.
