After repeated delays and uncertainty about the outcome of such an encounter, President Donald Trump met with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on Monday to discuss Rosenstein’s future in the administration, following recent reports that he allegedly suggested removing the President from office.
The long-awaited meeting, which lasted for half an hour and took place aboard Air Force One, did not result in the deputy attorney general’s firing as many speculated might happen. White House Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley told reporters President Trump spoke with Rosenstein for “roughly 30 minutes” and confirmed that Rosenstein will keep his job in the administration.
According to Fox News, the President called the conversation “great.”
Last month, the New York Times released a story which said Rosenstein discussed wearing a wire when meeting with Trump and invoked the 25th Amendment to remove him from office. Although the deputy attorney general denied the allegations, sources briefed on the discussions confirmed the details in the story.
The two men were to meet at the end of last month when the story broke, but their encounter was postponed amid Brett Kavanaugh’s tumultuous Supreme Court nomination. Despite speculation that Rosenstein may lose his job over the Times report, the President indicated from the very beginning that his “preference would be to keep him, to let him finish up” the Russia investigation, which Rosenstein oversees.
When asked by reporters if he planned to fire the deputy attorney general, Trump said, “No, I don’t. No.” Later in the day, President Trump told reporters he was not “making any changes.”
Trump and Rosenstein traveled together to Florida for the International Association of Chiefs of Police’s annual convention. “Thank you as well to our Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein for being here, flew down together,” the President said at the event.
“The press wants to know, ‘What did you talk about?’ ‘We had a very good talk,’ I will say. That became a very big story, actually. We had a good talk,” he continued.
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