Trump: I won’t fire Rosenstein

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump declared a reprieve Monday for Rod Rosenstein, saying he has no plans to fire the deputy attorney general whose future has been the source of intense speculation for two weeks.

“I’m not making any changes,” Trump told reporters as he returned to the White House after traveling with Rosenstein to an international police chiefs’ conference in Florida. “We just had a very nice talk. We actually get along.”

The flight provided an opportunity for their most extensive conversation since news reports last month that Rosenstein had discussed the possibilities in early 2017 of secretly recording Trump to expose chaos in the White House and invoking constitutional provisions to have him removed from office.

Those reports triggered an avalanche of speculation about the future of Rosenstein — and also the special counsel’s investigation into possible coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign. The deputy attorney general appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller to his special counsel post and closely oversees his work.

“I actually have a good relationship — other than there’s been no collusion folks, no collusion,” Trump said Monday as he departed the White House, referring to the question of whether his 2016 campaign worked with Russians to interfere in his presidential bid.

Trump said he was eager to speak with Rosenstein aboard Air Force One on the flight to Orlando. They did talk, for about 45 minutes, but not alone, a White House spokesman said.

The Justice Department has denied that Rosenstein had proposed invoking the 25th Amendment of the Constitution, which would involve the Cabinet and vice president agreeing to remove Trump. And the remark about recording the president was meant sarcastically, the department said.

Even so, Rosenstein told White House officials that he was willing to resign and arrived at the White House a week and a half ago with the expectation that he would be fired. He met in person with White House chief of staff John Kelly and spoke by phone with Trump during a tumultuous day that ended with him still in his job.

Trump had previously said that he would prefer not to fire the Justice Department’s No. 2 official and that Rosenstein had told him he did not say the remarks attributed to him. Advisers had also cautioned Trump against doing anything dramatic in the weeks before the midterm elections next month.