President Donald Trump is unsure if he should believe a recent New York Times report that claimed Rod Rosenstein tried to orchestrate Trump’s removal and he is considering keeping the deputy attorney general, the Wall Street Journal reported.
According to a WSJ source who’s spoken to the President about the matter, Trump has “an open mind about whether Rod really tried to orchestrate this” and is “genuinely conflicted” about it. Trump has reportedly told close aides that he wants to speak directly to Rosenstein about the reports that the deputy attorney general suggested wearing a wire and invoking the 25th Amendment to oust Trump from office.
Rosenstein flatly denied the reports in two separate statements this weekend and, according to the Times, spoke to Trump on the phone on Monday about the story as fumbled reports swirled that Rosenstein was about to be fired. Trump and Rosenstein have a scheduled meeting on Thursday to discuss the issue, the White House has said.
Rosenstein, who reportedly spoke with White House officials several times over the weekend about whether he should resign, is now reportedly not planning to quit, according to the WSJ.
Trump has held a special contempt for Rosenstein, who is overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into the Trump campaign and Russian interference in the 2016 election. But, according to the WSJ, Trump’s hedging on the matter may be a result of aides urging Trump in recent months to view Rosenstein differently than he views former FBI Director James Comey and Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.
