WASHINGTON _ Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein now is inclined to stay in his job, which includes overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe, but it all comes down to how President Donald Trump acts in a pivotal meeting on Thursday, according to two people familiar with the matter.
At the same time, Trump would have reason to keep him in the job, as the president's top political advisers are underscoring the political risks if the president were to fire Rosenstein before November's congressional elections, a White House aide said.
The future of the No. 2 official at the Justice Department was thrown into doubt on Friday with a report in The New York Times that Rosenstein had suggested to colleagues last year that he could secretly record conversations with the president and also discussed invoking the 25th Amendment that allows for removing a president who's unfit.
Over the weekend, he resigned verbally to White House chief of staff John Kelly, who accepted the offer, but after speaking with Trump on Monday, Rosenstein decided to stay in the job.
Trump then scheduled Thursday's meeting with Rosenstein to discuss the events. The Justice Department declined to comment about the meeting.
White House advisers worry that Democrats could be further energized if it appeared Trump was forcing out Rosenstein in an effort to obstruct Mueller's continuing investigation into Russia's election interference, the aide said. A successor to Rosenstein could end or limit Mueller's inquiry.
It wasn't clear whether Trump will place any demands on Rosenstein at the meeting, such as asking him to recuse himself from overseeing Mueller's probe, a person familiar with the matter said. Rosenstein isn't likely to agree to such a demand, increasing the risk that he'd resign, the person said.
The reports on Rosenstein's discussion with colleagues last year about covertly taping the president set off a firestorm in Washington, but the details remain in dispute. A person present at that meeting said he was joking, but The New York Times, which first reported the incident on Friday, cited secondhand accounts indicating Rosenstein was serious.
Rosenstein disputed the account. "I never pursued or authorized recording the president and any suggestion that I have ever advocated for the removal of the president is absolutely false," Rosenstein said in a statement on Friday.
Trump's allies also have warned on Twitter and cable news that firing Rosenstein could interfere in the already tumultuous effort to win confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Fox News host Sean Hannity delivered a "message to the president" on his show Friday that firing Rosenstein would play into Democratic hands. He framed the reports about Rosenstein as a "set-up."
Since the beginning of the Russia investigation, Trump's legal advisers have privately raised questions about Rosenstein's oversight of the probe, suggesting he had a conflict because he was involved in Trump's decision to fire former FBI Director James Comey. Mueller has been investigating whether Trump obstructed justice by firing Comey, as well as through other actions.
