Trump: ‘I Would Much Prefer Keeping Rod Rosenstein’

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President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he would “much prefer” not firing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, after reports indicated last week that Rosenstein had discussed secretly recording Trump and the using the 25th Amendment to remove him from office last year.

“He said he never said it,” Trump said at a press conference, referring to Rosenstein’s denials of the news reports. “He said he doesn’t believe it. He said he has a lot of respect for me. And he was very nice, and we’ll see.”

“He’s a member of the Trump administration, in that sense, it’s the Justice Department,” Trump added. “I would certainly prefer not doing that.”

There was “no obstruction,” Trump said, “unless you call obstruction the fact that I fight back.”

Trump said he might ask Rosenstein for a “little bit of a delay” on their meeting scheduled for Thursday, so that he can watch the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing with Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, who’s accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault.

“I would much prefer keeping Rod Rosenstein, much prefer,” Trump added later.

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