lot of us are trying to work out. as kaitlyn said, people inside the white house thought that rod rosenstein had offered his resignation during the conversations. kate? >> what will be happening with rod rosenstein. how much longer will he be in the job? is he offering his resignation today. will it be accepted? will he be fired? all questions on the table right now. john king and inside politics right now. thank you, kate and welcome to inside politics. i'm john king and thank you for sharing this busy day with us. the special counsel investigation. the deputy attorney general is summoned to the white house. is he being fired or resigning? we are trying to clear it up, but a big day at the white house. president trump is upbeat about

plans with a second summit from kim jong un. north korea is not taking steps to denuclearize. a second woman alleges sexual misconduct by brett kavanaugh, this time at a college party. democrats want another delay. the president said it's time for a vote. >> judge kavanaugh is an outstanding person and i am with him all the way. we will see how it goes for the vote. people can come out of the woodwork from 36 years ago and 30 years ago and never mentioned it and all of a sudden it happens. in my opinion it's totally political. totally political. >> big and developing breaking news right now. the man who oversees the special counsel investigation, rod rosenstein summoned to the white house. will he force president trump to fire him or has he already resigned? he is at the white house right

now meeting with the chief of staff, john kelly. he told associates rosenstein offered his resignation last week and kelly accepted it, but the president said that rosenstein must go. the why is straight forward. the friday "new york times" story recounting how rosenstein wore a wire to tape the president he viewed as erratic and purr suing the 25th amendment, trying to remove the president from office. part of our reporting team is live at the justice department. what's the latest? >> there is a certain amount of confusion at this hour about the status of the deputy attorney general and what his future holes. the short story is this is not over yet. the white house officials reporting with kaitlyn col ups that john kelly told people that the deputy attorney general offered his resignation. i am told it's more complicated

in terms of the timeline and this weekend there were a series of conversations after the fallout from that "new york times" bombshell and the deputy attorney general discussed resignation, but did not actually resign. instead he discussed the timing and the white house and the deputy attorney general could not get on the same page. my colleague reporting that the kavanaugh situation was at play here and everyone essentially agreed to pump this until monday which is why we are in the situation right now with the deputy attorney general at the white house still trying to find out what exactly is going on in that meeting. we wait to see a read out from the white house or the justice department which has not happened yet. if in fact this comes to fruition and the deputy attorney general on out, there is a succession plan at the justice department and noel francisco, the man who serves as solicitor general would be the acting attorney general, taking the

shoes of jeff sessions, but only for the purposes of the mueller investigation, john. i'm also told that the deputy attorney general's mood is calm. he is expected this day to come for quite sometime. >> laura, come back to us as you get new information throughout the hour. jeff is traveling with the president in new york at the united nations general assembly. wanting to be on the world stage, but one of the prime domestic sources of frustration. what are your sources telling you? >> no question and that is contributing to this confusion. the senior white house staff, some of them are here with the president as he begins a round of meetings with world leaders here. he is at his residence and watching this unfold. we are going to see him in a couple of hours when he is meeting with the president of south korea. it is uncertain if rod rosenstein has been fired or if the resignation has been accepted.

the white house simply is not saying. all of our sources in president white house in washington as well as here say they simply are not sure of the status. rod rosenstein is not going to be around for long. in a weekend interview with geraldo rivera made clear that rod rosenstein is a jeff sessions man, hired by jeff sessions. we know what the president thinks of jeff sessions, obviously. i'm sorry i can't clear up any more confusion hereali at the u. the president will get a read from him in a couple of hours. he may have to be the 1 one to y if he is on the job. by the end of the day, we think he probably will not be. >> a request to laura. if you have anything within the hour, the associated press,

cnn's manu raju and kate lynn col collins. he has gone to the white house to say i resign or say fire me? >> it's pretty safe to say he is not going to walk out of that meeting and have the job he has now. they are there hash things out and what they say going forward. they had a conversation last week where rod rosenstein offered to resign. what happened over the weekend, president trump was much more focussed on the drama with brett kavanaugh than the bombshell story about the wire and the 25th amendment. this has been a discussion about john kelly and where they are going forward. they are coming out of the white house. we will see what happens coming forward. the president during that

interview which was pretaped saturday or sunday with geraldo rivera said he wouldn't answer if rod rosenstein would be fired. he called it a sad situation and recommended to him by the attorney general, jeff sessions. >> this relationship at times and he has been harshly critical because robert mueller exists as the special counsel. let's go into how this matters. if rosenstein is not longer the attorney general, one is he is offered to resign, but will the white house accept his conditions. immediately or down the road and wants to put in writing somehow about the russia investigation? what are we fighting about? >> it's important to keep in mind according to a lot of reporting that rod rosenstein wanted to see this through the russia investigation. we are coming to an end in this investigation and the big thing is whether or not the president

submits to an interview with robert mueller and rod rosenstein has been part of those decisions and would have to green light the subpoena that mueller would want to issue the president. that's one of the conditions. i will resign, but wait until the investigation is over. whether or not he is fired or resigns, but it's important for the mueller investigation. if he is fired by the president, could it be viewed as an act of obstruction or perhaps act by the president where robert mueller would investigate. there is memos about the meetings. robert mueller has the memos. whether or not he believes rod rosenstein was serious about wire tapping the president, we will see. all of this could impact the russia investigation in many, many ways. >> the question is from my sources that the president is being called by combative friends, if you let him say on, you look weak. the president agrees and had

these questions about when. not what, but when? why would it matter now? >> your president's hearing from people who say why would you let him stay on and the "new york times" story furthered that assertion from the people. wean the president is at his golf club and at trump tower and time where he is talking to people. the president heading into a mid-term election where he recognizes his party is vulnerable is trying to figure out how to put himself in the strongest position possible. the same people who have been combati combative. >> that's remarkable. the conflicting advice the president has gotten. people like shawn hannity suggesting he should not fire him because of a deep state

experience and a trap for the president. he could fire rosenstein could be used as more evidence of obstruction. you talk to most republicans and they do not want rosenstein to go anywhere. if he does, that feeds the narrative of chaos within this administration and feeds the narrative of meddling. those are not the issues they want to run in heading into the mid-term elections. not coming at a good time. >> republicans have been resisting efforts to pass legislation and to protect the mueller investigation. he supports the administration and doesn't think that legislation is are in. republicans say they didn't think trump would go through with firing jeff sessions or rod rosenstein or pushing mueller out himself, but this lends more credibility to the democratic argument. >> among the democrats, in her case already saying see, we told you so. let's move to protect robert

mueller. by all indications, the investigation winding down. what about an interview with the president? mueller with rosenstein's assistants has been smart. if mueller die, mueller lives. he has passed off the sensitive investigations to new york. maybe this is not as significant in terms of investigations as it would have been six months ago where they took over the michael cohen investigation. if robert mueller quit or was fired today, those investigations continue in the southern district of new york. >> that's a great point and you are right about that. the fbi is the fbi. there are investigations ongoing. they are going to find prosecutors if they want to prosecute, they are going to find prosecutors to do the cases. the only other thing that i think because we don't know how much noel francisco who is the solicitor general would take

over, how much he has known about this investigation and if he has been in on the briefings. what would have to happen is that robert mueller would have to meet with him and brief him on everything and noel can say no, i don't like what you are doing here. you shouldn't be doing this or stop what you are doing. go in this direction. he could say we need to wrap this up. >> in that case, my understanding of special counsel and correct me if i'm wrong, some people know the law better than the nonlawyers, but if the supervisor at the justice department said no to the special counsel, i believe the law requires notice to go to the relevant committees on capitol hill. the judiciary committee. he can't just say shut it down. they would have to be relayed up. >> i don't think anyone expects them to shut down the investigation, but there are actions and activities we don't know about. investigative steps and grand jury activity that rod rosenstein was signing off on.

if they have a new viewpoint on the investigation, what will that mean? >> you have a president who there is a meeting going on if you joined us at the top of the hour, rod rosenstein meeting with the chief of staff who did not go with the president to the united nations general assembly to stay back and deal with this. there is reporting that he is resigning or said this after the "new york times" story, but if you have to get rid of me, you have to fire me. we think it could happen this hour. the president made clear that after the mid-terms, the attorney general goes. now number two. in addition all of the questions about the russia investigation, they did a lot more and top two officials now on the outs with the president and could be on the outs, period. >> kellyanne conway's husband, george conway was almost the solicitor general. keep that in mind and the

question here is does the president have political coverage to fire rod rosenstein in light of this "new york times" reporting? a lot of people said he does. he talk wearing a wire and having candidates to be the fbi director to wear ta wire. a lot of people say that's a good reason to fire a deputy attorney general. shows what strange times we are living in. it is considered a win where the attorney general is talking about invoking the 25th amendment, which he denies. trump talked about firing rod rosenstein for a year now, openly. he will say it to anyone within feet of him. >> the president has been talking about doing this for so long. if the mueller team who reviewed this information and seen these memos from their opinion and their evidence decide this was all a joke and rod rosenstein was not serious about this and the president is using this as

an excuse. we may have a whole new part of this investigation. >> a whole new part of the investigation. six weeks away from the mid-terms. we are told the meeting is over and the deputy attorney general, rod rosenstein is still at the white house. we are showing you if you are unfamiliar with the shot. that's not just landscaping, but that's the driveway where people pull up into the driveway. the cameras focus to see if he leaves the white house. the meeting is over. kaylie told us over the phone. we will take a quick break. the deputy earn general with the meeting that just concluded. was he fired or did he resign? we'll be right back.

in april, luke's dad made 25 calls to find a place that could bring his son's creation to life. there were 14 emails to determine the size of the lightning bolts. and 18 texts wishing luke a very happy birthday. and when all was said and done, luke got to be a real-life superhero. and so did his dad. you're in the business of helping people. we're in the business of helping you. business funding to help make a difference. another way we have your back.

the powerful backing of american express. don't do business without it. there is a chance that's the last time. 300 miles per hour, that's where i feel normal. i might be crazy but i'm not stupid. having an annuity tells me retirement is protected. annuities can provide protected income for life. learn more at retireyourrisk.org

annuities can provide protected income for life. >> tech: don't wait for a chip like this to crack your whole windshield. with safelite's exclusive resin, you get a strong repair that you can trust. plus, with most insurance a safelite repair is no cost to you. >> customer: really?! >> singers: safelite repair, safelite replace. and an ice plant.rs with 70-megawatts, 35 mules, but we brought power to the people- redefining what that meant from one era to the next.

over 90 years later we continue to build as one of the nation's largest investors in infrastructure. we don't just help power the american dream. we're part of it. this is our era. this is america's energy era. nextera energy another anti-wrinkle cream in no hurry to make anything happen. neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair works in just one week. with the fastest retinol formula to visibly reduce wrinkles. neutrogena®. welcome back to our breaking

news. a shot of the white house driveway. why are we showing you that? the deputy attorney general at the white house. a meeting concluded moments ago with john kelly. here's what gets curious. the reporting is that rosenstein having this meeting with the question on the table, will he be fired or will he resign? our report laura jared is he stayed to attend a previously scheduled principals meeting. confused? join the party. forgive me, but only in the trump administration does someone get summoned to a meeting with the chief of staff to stay at home and deal with the crisis and then you go to a principals meeting? huh? >> i don't think we know what's going on here. any scenario is possible right now. we obviously don't know what happened this this meeting with john kelly. i think the thing we do know for certain is this relationship between rod rosenstein and the

president and john kelly is untenable in its turned situation. if rod rosenstein is going to stay in his job, something will have to be resolved. he can't keep living in this situation expecting to be fire and expecting to have to resign because of the unssht is creates. it seems like at the very least, there was an toast get a handle on these things. the current situation has been untenable. >> we know when the "new york times" story came out friday, rod rosenstein came out about the possibility he said this department happen, but the possibility of wearing a wire because he said he is in these meetings with the president and i will wear a wire and we will have a conversation about removing the president. that was the times reporting and other reporting he was being more facetious or tongue in cheek. we don't know who was in the car and we are keeping track. then friday he issues a statement. john kelly said the statement is

not strong enough and issue a firmer denial. he does that and apparently over the weekend there are conversations about the possibility of resigning or should i resign and if you want me to, i'll resign. high drama. >> right. it's high drama, but there have been so many conflicting reports and he's at another meeting. then in this sort of village of this is not normal, you have my colleague who is reporting that you have jay seculo said the mueller probe should be paused if he is fired. thank you, president's lawyer who is involved in this whole thing. it really is -- we seem to till new ground of unprecedence every day. >> that's why this is significant. the impact that we don't know it's going to have. we mentioned the issues that can be at play in the last segment about subpoenas and where the investigation goes from here. ultimately when mueller writes his report, he is going to send

his report to the person overseeing the investigation. acting deputy attorney general or noel francisco to take over in that case. i talked to democrats who are following this very closely and the one thing they have been fearful of in the firing of rosenstein is whoever replaces him is is they put the report in a safe and not release it. that will be a source of discussion and debate going forward. what will this new person in charge of the investigation to allow the public to see and how that goes on the investigation. >> forgive me and you have democrats coming out and calling for the bill to be taken up to protect mueller. you will hear that on the hill all day. i saw harris and senator marky. that is going to be yet another thing that they are going to be pushing. hard, especially ahead of the mid-terms. >> take us inside the white house on the president's

reaction when he heard the "new york times" story. we know you hate rod rosenstein. don't do it now. you are trying to get kavanaugh confirmed. stay calm to this bubbling to where they have this meeting with the chief of staff. >> the reaction was not what people thought it was going to be. everyone thinks president trump is predictable and in most instance he is, but i had multiple officials texting me saying expletives. we can't believe this. the president's reaction is going to be explosive and long thought people were working to undermine him and this is exactly what they thought was going to set him off. his reaction was calmer than we thought and we sthau at the rally. he only meat one illusion saying there was aylingering stench and they had to get rid of it. what we know is a lot of people were working to tell a president this was a set up and people wanted him to fire rod rosenstein and he shouldn't take

the bait. why should he trust andy mccabe who the memos were based off of and the recollections with the recollections were. i think the president bought into it. he doesn't trust andy mccabe and that was the source of this information from his memos. that was a lot of the confusion there and we have seen the relationship between president trump and rod rosenstein change. it went from back in april, he was still publicly considering firing rod rosenstein. he was mentioning it with him multiple times a day to anyone who would listen. then the president stopped saying he had the conflicts of interest and a lot of people said he knew he was going to be the person making a decision about what to do with the mueller report when it came out. it changed a little bit. the president went from telling people rod rosenstein is no friend of mine. over the weekend, he was much more focussed on kavanaugh. that's not what people were

expecting. >> we are trying to get the details of what played out. meeting with john kelly and talking about resignation or possible fire something we are still trying to get the details. what a resignation could mean for the future of robert mueller's special counsel's investigation. this place isn't for me.

that last place was pretty nice. i don't like this whole thing. i think we can do better. change is hard. try to keep an open mind. come on, dad. this is for me, son? principal. we can help you plan for that.

you wouldn't accept from any one else. why accept it from an allergy pill? flonase relieves sneezing, itchy, watery eyes and a runny nose, plus nasal congestion, which most pills don't. it's more complete allergy relief. flonase. another anti-wrinkle cream in no hurry to make anything happen. neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair works in just one week. with the fastest retinol formula

to visibly reduce wrinkles. neutrogena®. ...ancestrydna can pinpoint where your ancestors are from... ...and the paths they took, to a new home. could their journey inspire yours? order your kit at ancestrydna.com.

welcome back. a dramatic and somewhat confusing breaking news day here in washington. rod rosenstein still at the white house after a high stakes meeting with cheaf of stafief on kelly. with all this talk of being fired or resigning, he had talked about staying in his job until after the elections to give robert mueller time to complete his investigation. what could this mean for the future of the mueller investigation? joining our conversation to share insights, legal analyst, michael, you have experience with special counsel investigations and experience with robert mueller. if he is sitting at his disk trying to track what's happening, what is he thinking about and the checklist of things to do in case the deputy attorney general, the guy i report to is fired or resigns? >> if rosenstein were to be fired or resign and noah fr

francisco were to take over, mueller had nothing to do with this has to put together a briefing book to let noel francisco know what transpired legally in the last 14 plus months to get him up to speed because we are at a critical stage of the investigation which is why the rosenstein does not want to leave now. we are deciding whether the president will testify or not testify. whether or not there is viable obstruction of justice theory with this mosaic of little parts that we have been talking about. whether or not the justice department will issue a subpoena if mueller asked for one. we are at a critical stage of the investigation and mueller has to think, oh, god, now i have to let somebody new into the house and advise them of everything we have been doing to get them up to speed which will set me back weeks f not months as they familiarize themselves with the case. that's why i think rod

rosenstein proponents and friends of the president say this is an inopportune time to do anything with rod rosenstein. >> the studying and even if there is nothing nepharious, delaying this for weeks and months now that carries it into a new year with the possibility of democrats taking the house and possibly the senate. what happens to robert mueller with something already in the stream or something he wants to do and francisco said you know what, i disagree and i don't like that and that's upon beyond perview. >> he would be mueller's boss. he has an obligation to report back to the new acting attorney general and it could really be a big problem. i think, you know, what's complicating this above all, i think is this "new york times" report which we started out with earlier in the week that rod rosenstein had suggested invo invoking the 25th amendment to

get trump out of office and put someone else in the presidency. that is such an act of disloyalty that trump undoubtedly has been rule nating because of that. also a pretext to get rid of him and not be accused of obstruction of justice because rosenstein was disloyal and put rodriguez in place, a fresh face and maybe more loyal to trump in trump's view. we have all of this atmosphere floating around this very, very difficult and complex situation. >> and let's expand the conversation a bit. we are focussed on robert mueller, but if the deputy attorney general is gone, what happens to the investigations that mueller handed off, sometimes at the advice or direction of the deputy attorney general to the southern district of new york. even though he has been talking to the team, his investigation

was done from the southern district of new york. the chief financial officer has an agreement with the southern district of new york. who at the justice department do they call when they want to go into an additional lane and subpoena someone or take an investigation down. it involves the president and his business. a controversial track. >> right. those investigations in the u.s. attorney's offices in the southern district of new york and washington, d.c. and elsewhere would to me proceed as a business as usual. they would still have a reporting line back to the justice department. if they were reporting to rosenstein, they would report to noah francisco, the solicitor general. if they were reporting to the ag, they would continue to report through him. those stay intact. i wanted to mention one thing if i have a moment here. paul said if you brought a new person in and that person

disagreed with something that mueller wanted to do and said to him, no. it's something that rosenstein said yes to. what that does is it triggers a reporting obligation from the justice department to the ranking member and the chair of both the house and senate judiciary committees. only a confidential report to the deputy attorney general. if the overseer of mueller says no to mueller, that triggers a report to congress. if they do that, if they think they are bringing in a loyalist who is going to say no to mueller, what they are going to buy themselves is a report to congress outlining what the differences between the justice department and mueller is and that's going to make this much more political and therefore more dangerous. >> and john can i add on that going down that road also, the other interesting thing is that

rosenstein wrote the memo about comey, saying that comey had problems in the way he ran the fbi. which trump subsequently used to justify the firing of comey not with standing the fact on an interview with lester holt, he suggested he was going to fire comey anyway. trump may be fearful of making an enemy of rosenstein if he has to testify about the details of that memo and whether it was his impression that comey was fired based on the memo. we get that factor as well. does trump want to make an enemy of rosenstein by firing and under mining his favorable testimony with mueller. such a complicated situation. the president and the country is looking at this today. >> complicated is a significant under state. we will take a quick break and when we come back, the developing breaking news. the deputy attorney general

meeting with the chief of staff amid reports he could be fired or resign. when we come back, rod rosenstein's state of mind. if you have psoriasis, ... little things can be a big deal. that's why there's otezla.

otezla is not a cream. it's a pill that treats moderate to severe plaque psoriasis differently. with otezla, 75% clearer skin is achievable. don't use if you're allergic to otezla . it may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. otezla is associated with... ...an increased risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have  a history of depression or suicidal thoughts,... ...or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. tell your doctor about your medicines and if you're pregnant or planning to be. otezla. show more of you. olay regenerist wipes out the competition; hydrating better than $100, $200 even $400 creams. with our b3 complex, beautiful skin doesn't have to cost a fortune. olay. it was always our singular focus. to do whatever it takes, use every possible resource.

to fight cancer. and never lose sight of the patients we're fighting for. our cancer treatment specialists share the same vision. experts from all over the world, working closely together to deliver truly personalized cancer care. and these are the specialists we're proud to call our own. expert medicine works here. learn more at cancercenter.com appointments available now.

with pg&e in the sierras. and i'm an arborist since the onset of the drought, more than 129 million trees have died in california.

pg&e prunes and removes over a million trees every year to ensure that hazardous trees can't impact power lines. and since the onset of the drought we've doubled our efforts. i grew up in the forests out in this area and honestly it's heartbreaking to see all these trees dying. what guides me is ensuring that the public is going to be safer and that these forests can be sustained and enjoyed by the community in the future. >> welcome back. the future of rod rosenstein is in limbo. leaving in september was never the plan. evan perez has more reporting on rosenstein's state of mind. >> look, i think he knew this day was coming, he just didn't think it was coming today. even as of this weekend, he

believed according to people close to his thinking that his apologies for what those reports on friday from about a year ago, comments he made in meetings a year ago were sufficient and he expected he would be gone after the mid-terms which was when he expected there might be a house cleaning at the justice department. you can get a sense of his state of mind in his recent speeches. one 11 days ago at the justice department where he talked about the oath of office that people take when they take office and people overlook part of his speech and the final clause of what they say to well and faithfully discharge the duties of office and you have to stand for something. he quoted a country song. you have got to stand for something or you will fall for anything. that reflects the state of mind for a man who expects he will be

gone in the next couple of months, watching with the overseeing of the mueller investigation, he certainly expected his time was very limited and i think he's thinking a little bit about his legacy once he is gone from office. >> even if he is gone, we will try to answer the question throughout this confusing day and the investigation is continuing. if he leaves, he will still be heard from. appreciate the reporting. coming up, the brett kavanaugh confirmation battle has another twist. another woman alleges misconduct. outside susan collins's office, protesters demand she vote now. >> collins needs to make a decision now and not when other republicans back down. she needs to make a decision now she needs to make a decision now when it matters.

if you see wires down, she netreat them all as ifon now whthey are hot and energized. stay away from any downed wire, call 911 and call pg&e right after so we can both respond out and keep the public safe.

one call 811 before you dig.ings you can do is to make sure you calling 811 can get your lines marked. it's free, it's easy, we come out and mark your lines. we provide you the information so you will dig safely. a book that you're ready to share with the world? get published now, call for your free publisher kit today!

back to our breaking news, a new white house statement on the fate of rod rosenstein to meet with the chief of staff. traveling with the president at the united nations in new york, jeff, bring us the latest. >> we're have a new statement from the press secretary, sarah sanders shedding a bit more light on what has been a confusing morning back at the white house. he said the president had a conversation with the deputy attorney general about recent news stories and called it an extended conversation to discuss the recent news stories. she goes on to say because the president is at the u ninited nations general assembly with a full schedule, they will meet on thursday when the president returns to washington. the press secretary there saying that the president is going to meet with the deputy attorney general when he returns to

washington on thursday. that would seem to put a hold on all of this discussion we have been having. of course the question here is timing. if a resignation was offered, what is the timing involved in this for when he might leave that position? the white house putting the brakes on any suggestion that there is something imminent happening and saying the president will discuss it with him face-to-face on thursday when he returns to washington. john? >> with the breaking news, appreciate it. let's bring the conversation back into the room. lost on nobody here. if you are not following this closely at home, thursday is when christine blasey ford is supposed to testify publicly about her allegations that in high school she was sexually assaulted by brett kavanaugh. thursday shapes up as a giant day in town. we talked about this since the top of the program. the attorney general goes to the white house and is with the chief of staff and gets on the phone with the president and now they will meet on thursday. that means he has not resigned

and the president had an opportunity to say you gotta go. that didn't happen. >> this istoning out pretty good so far. apparently they had this conversation and we know he offered to resign to john kelly last week. what transpire and what happened during the phone call, president trump is in new york and they were back at the white house. that's what we are trying to figure out, what this conversation was. the president is pretty confrontational with people and maybe he said something like that. it is interesting and he will stay on until thursday happens, depending on what happened. >> color me skeptical about the timing of this. the white house had a very big risk for man? republicans to have christine blasey ford testify in front of that hearing. she is scheduled to do it and now this happens. brett kavanaugh was also testifying to attempt to clear his name. the fact that -- we talk a lot

about distractions with this white house, but this seems like a pretty darn crazy coincidence. >> it seems that he is giving the president a choice to fire him. we will see exactly what transpired in that meeting. based on what kaitlan is reporting that he did offer to resign, perhaps he said the president had to make the decision to fire me. that's a different ramification with the future of the russia investigation. we will see if the president ultimately decides to pull the trigger. >> that sets up a couple of extraordinary days in washington. there is a decent chance they are. i don't think it helps the white house. you now have two highly anticipated thursday deadlines. neither of which look good. the supreme court nominee embattled at best and the deputy attorney general on the ropes

and the president is prolonging both of those stories by pushing the rosenstein decision apparently off for a couple of days instead of getting ahead of it. this is a president who does not like in person confrontation. it is interesting to me that he didn't just, whatever the conversation will be, have john kelly take care of it today. >> it makes for a fascinating moment. you make a key point if they think they can fire him or get a resignation during that up on capitol hill, it will still happen and you may not get it until the next day. the president of the united states will be sitting face-to-face with the deputy attorney general, a man who rosenstein just walked by. we have the camera in the driveway. he will be sitting face-to-face with the deputy attorney general who knows most if not all of what robert mueller is working on, making a decision about whether or not to let him go.

do you make the decision i'm better off keeping him in the government? rod rosenstein is walking to the vehicle. if he becomes a public citizen, he has confidentiality requirements, what are the risk there is? >> we know president trump is skeptical of that reporting that rosenstein debated wearing a wire while he met with him and trying to convince them to force trump out of office. the president is going to sit down with with for all the president pays close attention to denials, he believes the basis of them, especially when rex tillerson called him a moron and trump was sure he called him a moron. that is going to be interested when the president sits down with him. does he believe his denials and they put him put out the second denial or does he believe that rod rosenstein was working against him or does he weigh the fact that things have change and

improved and starred getting along more and does he keep him around for that? that will be the question going forward. it is impossible to predict. the lobbying will be intense. take your food off and let him stay on and we will see who he listens to. >> they have quick time to do this. do you do it before or wait until after the elections? thank you for joining us. getting to the breaking news. we continue our coverage and find out what happens with the deputy attorney general. wolf picks up the coverage after a quick break. have a great day. (vo) this is not a video game. this is not a screensaver. this is the destruction of a cancer cell by the body's own immune system, thanks to medicine that didn't exist until now.

and today can save your life. ♪ ♪ >> tech: so you think this chip is nothing to worry about? well at safelite, we know sooner or later every chip will crack. these friends were on a trip when their windshield got chipped. so they scheduled at safelite.com. they didn't have to change their plans or worry about a thing. i'll see you all in a little bit. and i fixed it right away with a strong repair they can trust. plus, with most insurance a safelite repair is no cost to you. >> customer: really?! >> tech: being there whenever you need us that's another safelite advantage. >> singers: safelite repair, safelite replace.

when we switched our auto and home insurance. with liberty, we could afford a real babysitter instead of your brother. hey! oh, that's my robe. is it? when you switch to liberty mutual,

you could save $782 on auto and home insurance. and still get great coverage for you and your family. call for a free quote today. you could save $782. liberty mutual insurance. liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ hello, i'm wolf blitzer and it's 1:00 p.m. here in washington. thanks very much for joining us. we start with break news. rod rosenstein's future is up in the air. a source said he expects to be fired, but not yet. the white house saying moments ago that president trump will meet with rosenstein on thursday when the president returns to washington. this comes just days after a truly stunning report saying rosenstein actually suggested secretly recording president trump after he fired