Rosenstein heads to White House, expects to be fired

by Emily Birnbaum - 09/24/18 10:43 AM ET

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on Monday morning was on his way to the White House and expecting to be fired, according to multiple reports.

Rosenstein was set to meet with White House chief of staff John Kelly, according to CNN.

News outlets reported on Monday morning that Rosenstein was preparing to depart from his top position at the Justice Department soon after a bombshell report from Axios that said he had verbally resigned in a previous conversation with Kelly.

Conflicting reports emerged throughout Monday, with some outlets confirming the Axios report while others reporting he was refusing to step down.

{mosads}Axios reported that Rosenstein was planning to resign in anticipation of being fired. CNN, Bloomberg and The Washington Post quickly confirmed this report.

NBC reported that Rosenstein was refusing to resign of his own volition, saying President Trump had to fire him.

All outlets confirmed that Rosenstein was on his way to the White House.

A source with direct knowledge told Axios that he is planning to step down because “he’s expecting to be fired.”

Reports of Rosenstein’s departure come days after The New York Times reported that he proposed secretly recording conversations with Trump and discussed the possibility of invoking the 25th Amendment to remove the president from office.

Rosenstein reportedly brought up the proposals after Trump fired former FBI Director James Comey in the spring of 2017. Rosenstein has denied the report.

Trump in a Monday interview left the door open to firing Rosenstein.

“I haven’t gotten all the facts, but certainly it’s being looked at in terms of what took place,” Trump said in response to a question about firing Rosenstein on WTAM radio’s “Geraldo in Cleveland” on Monday. “If anything took place and I’ll make a determination sometime later, but I don’t have the facts.”

Noel Francisco, the solicitor general, would take on oversight of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe if Rosenstein resigned.

Tags Donald Trump James Comey John Kelly Robert Mueller