Following last month’s eye-opening New York Times article detailing how Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein talked about working to invoke the 25th Amendment to have President Donald Trump removed from office, as well as and wearing a wire during meetings with the President to expose alleged chaos within the executive branch, the Justice Department’s second in command will stay in the Trump Administration for now. After the troublesome report made headlines, Rosenstein was expected to be heading to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to resign, even going to so far as to verbally resign to White House Chief of Staff John Kelly in anticipation of being fired by the President.
Trump postponed the meeting with the deputy attorney general during the controversy surrounding the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. On Monday, President Trump announced that he has no plans right now to fire Rosenstein as the two were travelling together on Air Force One to the International Association of Chiefs of Police annual convention in Florida.
According to The Washington Post, President Trump told reporters as he was leaving the White House that he has a “very good relationship” with Rosenstein.
“I didn’t know Rod before,” Trump said. “I’ve gotten to know him, and I get along very well with him.” He added at a previous press conference, “My preference would be to keep him and to let him finish up.”
Great anxiety was sweeping through the Justice Department when the future of Rosenstein’s tenure at the department was uncertain. The deputy attorney general currently oversees the investigation into Russian election interference in 2016, led by White House Special Counsel Robert Mueller, a common target of President Trump.
Although Rosenstein is staying for now, that could be just until after the midterm elections in November as the chaos from the Kavanaugh hearings subsides.