FILE - In this July 13, 2018 file photo, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice in Washington. Rosenstein is expecting to be fired, heading to White House Monday morning.(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Republished September 24, 2018 - 12:34 PM
Original Publication Date September 24, 2018 - 7:56 AM
NEW YORK - The Latest on Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein (all times local):
15:23 p.m.
President Donald Trump is declining to say whether he plans to fire his Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, but says he hopes a Thursday meeting will help him figure out "what's going on."
The White House announced earlier Monday that Trump will meet with Rosenstein Thursday amid breathless and sometimes conflicting reports anticipating his imminent departure.
Trump tells reporters on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly that, "We'll be determining what's going on. We want to have transparency, we want to have openness."
But he's declining to say whether he still has confidence in Rosenstein following reports Rosenstein discussed possibly secretly recording the president and raised the idea of using the 25th Amendment to remove him from office.
Rosenstein is the top Justice Department official overseeing the Trump-Russia investigation.
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3 p.m.
The House Judiciary Committee's top-ranking Democrat says President Donald Trump could add to a case of obstructing justice if he were to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
Rep. Jerry Nadler did not specifically mention impeachment in a CNN interview on Monday. But Nadler also said he would not rule out any legal option were he to become Judiciary chairman if Democrats win a House majority in November.
Nadler's statements come amid signs that Rosenstein's job could be in jeopardy after news reports that the deputy attorney general raised the possibility of secretly taping Trump and of invoking the 25th amendment to have Cabinet officers remove Trump from office.
Rosenstein denies the reports.
Rosenstein oversees the special counsel's Russia investigation.
The White House says Trump and Rosenstein will meet Thursday.
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1 p.m.
The White House says President Donald Trump and his embattled Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein spoke on Monday and will meet Thursday at the White House amid uncertainty about Rosenstein's fate.
Thursday is the same day that Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, and a woman who has accused him of sexually assaulting her when they were teenagers, are set to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders says Trump and Rosenstein had "an extended conversation" Monday "to discuss the recent news stories" at Rosenstein's request.
Rosenstein, who oversees special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia election meddling, had been expecting to be fired Monday following after critical comments he made about Trump.
Trump is currently in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, so the two will meet Thursday "when the President returns to Washington, D.C."
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Noon
Former Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe says that if Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein leaves his post, it puts the special counsel's Russia investigation "at risk."
The Associated Press has confirmed that Rosenstein is heading to the White House with the expectation that he will be fired. Rosenstein oversees special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia election meddling and has been the probe's chief public defender.
The development comes just days after reports that in the days after the firing of FBI Director James Comey, Rosenstein had raised the idea of secretly recording President Donald Trump and of invoking the 25th Amendment to have the Cabinet remove the president from office.
McCabe says in a statement that he had "no role" in providing information of "any kind" for those news reports.
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10:50 a.m.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is expecting to be fired Monday at the White House, after critical comments about President Donald Trump.
That's according to a source familiar with his thinking who wasn't authorized to speak on the record and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.
It follows reports Friday that Rosenstein floated the idea of secretly recording Trump last year and that he raised the idea of using the 25th Amendment to remove Trump as unfit for office. Rosenstein has denied the reports.
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10:40 a.m.
President Donald Trump has not decided whether to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein for reportedly questioning the president's fitness to serve.
Trump told Geraldo Rivera in an interview aired Monday that he's looking at what, if anything, to do about Rosenstein's reported actions. The New York Times first reported that in 2017, Rosenstein had proposed secretly recording Trump and suggested his removal from office. Trump laid blame for the controversy at the feet of his attorney general.
"He was hired by Jeff Sessions," Trump said in the interview, which was aired on "Fox & Friends." As for Rosenstein's future, Trump says, "We will make a determination. It's certainly a very sad story."
Rosenstein issued a pair of denials, saying The Times report is inaccurate.
News from © The Associated Press, 2018