President Donald Trump made it very clear on Tuesday that the resignation of Rod Rosenstein is not a sure thing, with Trump instead saying that he “much preferred to keep” the deputy attorney general, despite the recent reports of Rosenstein talking about using the 25th Amendment to remove the president from office, according to reports from USA Today .
Trump spoke to the press in a news conference following his Wednesday appearance at the United Nations General Assembly, also mentioning that he may push back the meeting for Rosenstein that is scheduled for Thursday. The reason to push back the meeting, which was intended to be a discussion about Rosenstein’s future in the administration, was so that it would not take away from the scheduled Senate hearings of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, who will be facing allegations of sexual assault.
Trump lent support to the beleaguered Rosenstein, saying that the deputy attorney general had told him in very clear terms that he never spoke of using the 25th Amendment to remove the president, nor did he ever offer to wear a wire so that he could catch evidence of any of Trump’s bizarre and erratic behavior in the wake of the firing of FBI Director James Comey. “He said he never said it. He doesn’t believe it. He was very nice and we’ll see,” said Trump.
President Trump defends Kavanaugh nomination, calls out his own sexual assault accusers, may delay Rosenstein conversation https://t.co/FJaKifZ5Pb
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) September 26, 2018
While Trump made a point of saying “I would certainly prefer” for Rosenstein not to be fired, he also pointed out that nothing was certain until the pair had a personal meeting.
The press conference was primarily focused on the issues of Rosenstein and Kavanaugh, but it was an open-ended affair and broached topics that included Trump once again denying any Russian involvement in the 2016 election, as well as denying any claims from women that have accused him of sexual assault.
“I’ve had a lot of false charges made against me,” said Trump at one point.
The meeting between Trump and Rosenstein was originally scheduled for almost the same time on Thursday as Kavanaugh’s Senate hearing, which Trump made clear was a no-go, saying “I don’t want to get in the way of that very important Supreme Court pick.”
The Judiciary Committee of the Senate will be hearing from Christine Blasey Ford, who has leveled accusations against Kavanaugh regarding a sexual assault that he committed against her while they were both teenagers. Trump has gone to lengths defending Kavanaugh and made a point of saying he did not want to miss Ford’s testimony.
