Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and President Donald Trump planned to travel to Florida together on Air Force One on Monday, a week-and-a-half after the two were scheduled to discuss Rosenstein’s reported comments last year concerning the president’s fitness for office and an offer to secretly tape conversations with him, The New York Times reported on Monday.
Trump is scheduled to deliver a speech at a police conference in Orlando later on Monday.
The Times speculated that Rosenstein and Trump would use their time on board the plane to discuss the comments, the disclosure of which has put Rosenstein’s future at the Justice Department into doubt.
In the days following the revelations of his comments in late September, Rosenstein told White House officials that he wished to resign, but Trump delayed any discussion on the matter as he dealt with the fight to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.
A planned meeting between Rosenstein and Trump was canceled and no new date was set.
The urgency for a meeting also appeared to abate after Rosenstein spoke by telephone with Trump, and the president told reporters that "My preference would be to keep [Rosenstein]," USA Today reported.
"He said he did not say it; he said he does not believe that.”
Should Rosenstein quit or be fired, his departure would be almost certain to raise controversy, as he is the top Justice Department official overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to sway the 2016 election.
Trump allies have urged the president not to fire Rosenstein, saying it would create more problems than it solves, according to USA Today.
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