Rosenstein to meet Trump on Thursday amid reports he’s resigning
WASHINGTON — Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is scheduled to meet with President Donald Trump on Thursday to discuss his future, according to the White House, after a person familiar with the matter said he told chief of staff John Kelly that he was resigning.
Rosenstein’s current status and future intentions were mired in confusion on Monday afternoon in the aftermath of reports that he’d suggested to colleagues last year that he would secretly record conversations with Trump.
Kelly and Rosenstein discussed the veteran prosecutor’s resignation late last week, and the White House accepted it and considered Rosenstein’s departure a done deal, the person said. A second person familiar with the matter said earlier Monday that Rosenstein had been expected to be gone from the job by day’s end.
But the second person now says Rosenstein is still the deputy attorney general and no formal resignation was tendered. Rosenstein, who oversees the Russia probe run by special counsel Robert Mueller, visited the White House Monday for a previously scheduled meeting. Other media reports said that the deputy attorney general expected to be fired.
“At the request of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, he and President Trump had an extended conversation to discuss the recent news stories,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement. “They will meet on Thursday when the president returns to Washington.”
The disputed details of what Rosenstein discussed with his colleagues last year about covertly taping the president set off a firestorm in Washington.
A person who was present at that meeting said he was joking, but The New York Times, which first reported the incident on Friday, cited secondhand accounts indicating Rosenstein was serious about the proposal. The Times said Rosenstein also discussed identifying Cabinet members willing to invoke the 25th Amendment, which provides for the removal of a president who’s unfit for office.
The departure of Rosenstein, who named Mueller to be special counsel in May 2017, would have enormous implications for the Russia investigation and for the president. A successor to Rosenstein would have the power to fire Mueller or rein in his investigation. Rosenstein’s resignation was reported earlier Monday by Axios.
Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand warned that Mueller’s probe needs additional protection in light of Rosenstein’s expected departure.
“The Senate must step up to protect the Special Counsel immediately,” she said in a tweet. “We must pass the bipartisan bill to protect the Mueller investigation. The American people deserve answers about Russian interference in our democracy.”
Current and former government officials, including lawmakers, had long warned Trump against firing or pushing out Rosenstein. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer warned Trump against seizing on the report that Rosenstein suggested covertly taping him.
“This story must not be used as a pretext for the corrupt purpose of firing Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein in order install an official who will allow the president to interfere with the Special Counsel’s investigation,” Schumer said in a statement. He added that many “White House and cabinet officials have been reported to say critical things of the president without being fired.”
Mueller has charged 25 Russian people and companies for election interference. He also has won guilty pleas and cooperation agreements from people around Trump, including former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Mueller is pursuing the possibility that people close to Trump colluded with representatives of Russia as well as whether Trump conspired to obstruct justice, inquiries the president has denounced as a “witch hunt.”
Rosenstein made the decision to name a special counsel days after he took charge of the Russia probe, which he inherited when Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the matter. Trump has mocked and criticized Sessions for doing so.
Trump can install a temporary replacement as deputy attorney general until he nominates a successor to Rosenstein who would have to be confirmed by the Senate.
However, the Justice Department has a line of succession that could let Solicitor General Noel Francisco assume control of the investigation. One question is whether that would be considered inappropriate given that Francisco is a former partner of the Jones Day law firm, which has represented Trump for years.