if, in fact, the white house accepts the resignation of rod rosenstein, right? if that is what he is doing here, rosenstein has denied the allegations against him. he said he never considered wiring the president or talking about it. others have said hey, just like in news editorial meetings, you toss around a bunch of crazy ideas, same thing when you're in a conversation with a bunch of people who work at the department of justice, talking about a bunch of ideas. who knows what may have come up? that is the defense of rosenstein since friday. it's an interesting question of does it matter, resigned or fired? here's what we do know. this is a president who has had a roller coaster relationship with rosenstein. not like sessions where it's just sort of a one-sided barrage constantly. the president will hold his fire and then aim it at rosenstein again. he said he has a fantastic relationship last month. prior to that there was a report that he said he calls him mr. peepers and the president tweeted and said i never called him mr. peepers. from what i understand, r

we know rod rosenstein and john kelly met on friday. e house wanted rosenstein to issue a firmer denial after "the new york times" reporting. he did put out a second statement despite saying oermy he wasn't going to comment further. we know they have been having conversations for several days now, since that bombshell story broke. but it's unclear where they stand right now. if they're on two pages or not, and that's what they're hoping to get together once they sit down at the white house, whatever is going to come out of that, they're trying to get on the same page. we're hearing two different things from the white house, from the justice department, but what we do know to be true is that john kelly and rod rosenstein are going to meet. we know that comes amid the questions in the west wing about his future there in the white house, in the administration. what was going to happen going forward, but kate, we also know that over the weekend, president trump was much more focused on the drama surrounding his supreme court nominee than he

if you remember, going back to right after the firing of james comey, rod rosenstein was in a very tough place. his memo that he had written was being used by the president to explain why he fired james comey. so rod was certainly very distraught, he thought that he was being used, set up, certainly that this memo was not -- was not his intention for it to be used this way. and so he was very upset and he was telling friends and he was basically, you know, telling people, a lot of people, how he felt. so i think that's the context in which these conversations were happening. we don't know exactly what rod was sort of thinking necessarily about actually doing any of these things, but according to the "times" they didn't actually go through with any of this. they didn't go through with any discussions according to rod rosenstein. didn't have any discussions of a 25th amendment coup as you described. but certainly i think this now puts the president in a place where he has to decide, do i believe rod rosenstein's denials? do i believe andy mccabe who was fired for allegedly leaking and for

you've got to get rid of rod rosenstein. here is your way the do it. cite this "new york times" piece and fire them now. rosenstein was going to wire you, or wire himself, wire other officials going in to spy on you in the white house, rosenstein was going to organize the cabinet to utilize the 25th amendment to oust you from office? he was? since "the new york times" posted the story this afternoon, their reporters are definitely standing by what they have published, but both nbc news and "the washington post" have published their own versions of this story, which fundamentally contradicts the whole point of the, in times reporting. "the times" is insisting that rod rosenstein seriously proposed wearing a wire, surreptitiously recording the president inside the white house as part of a serious plot to prove the president's incompetence and get him out of office. "the times" says their sources for that information were people who were briefed on the fact that rod rosenstein had said that to other officials and sources who were briefed on a memo that ano

rod rosenstein is walking to the vehicle. e 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

the white house is pushing back on reports that deputy attorney general rod rosenstein is on his way t the door, at least for now. rosenstein we're told thought he was going to be fired today, but that, of course, did not happen and the president has been speaking very carefully about the fate of his deputy attorney general, a sign that he knows full well there could be severe consequences if he fires rod rosenstein. arriving at the united nations where he likes to throw his weight around with world leaders, president trump is treating one matter delicately, that is whether to fire deputy attorney general rod rosenstein. >> well, i think it is a very sad story, and people are obviously -- we are looking into it, but it is a very sad state of affairs when something like that can happen. >> reporter: you must be unsettled about it. >> i'm not unsettled about anything. >> reporter: amid revelations rosenstein once talked of secretly recording the president and removing mr. trump from office using the 25th amendment, the deputy attorney general paid a visit to the white house this morning

the deputy attorney general, rod rosenstein. sources are telling cnn that after president trump fired the fbi director, james comey, last year, rosenstein discussed secretly recording the president and recruiting cabinet members to invoke the 25th amendment to remove him from office. the "new york times" first reported the information. rosenstein has responded with a statement calling the "times" story, and i'm quoting now, inaccurate and factually incorrect. we'll talk about that much more with congressman jim himes of the intelligence committee. and our correspondent, specialists and analysts are also standing by. first let's get details on the breaking news. our evan perez and crime and justice reporter are both working the story for us. evan, break down all the information involving this explosive report. >> that's right, wolf. this is an explosive story. and this all came down last year in weeks and days after the president fired james comey, the fbi director. rod rosenstein was in meetings, and he described possibly wearing

attorney general rod rosenstein. brett kavanaugh defends himself on a new letter wearing hearing about. hello, everyone, i am julie banderas in for dana perino. this is "the daily briefing." ♪ >> julie: we begin with rod rosenstein. this morning, his job was in jeopardy. heading back to the justice department with an appointment to see the president this thursday. the same day, judge kavanaugh's accuser is set to testify in a dramatic public hearing on capitol hill. we have life fox news coverage for you today. covering president trump at the united nations, but will begin with catherine in washington. >> a short time ago, the press secretary confirming the attorney general had extended conversation about the reporting party that rosenstein discussed invoking the 20 for the moment from removing, allegations that he denied. it leaves his future in limbo until thursday. this morning, the ranking democrat on the intelligence committee urged him to hold on. >> he should not take a step affirmatively, and essentially let

>> well, first of all, rod rosenstein should under no circumstances resign. if the president tends to obstruct justice, rosenstein should require him to be fired. he shouldn't take a step affirmatively and essentially let the president off the hook. this looks to me like a slow moving saturday night massacre. it seems like the only question is whether these steps take place now or they take place after the midterms when the president believes he will pay less of a political price for it. but the fact that these steps, the firing of comey, pushing out rod rosenstein, whether it's done now or later, the firing of the attorney general apparently seems contemplated after the election. those are in their cumulative form the same as the saturday night massacre and they all have the same end which is to give the president total control over the investigation in which he might be implicated. so i don't think there's any circumstances in which rosenstein should tender his resignation, and i don't think that in the event that the president fires him, it's another piece

deputy attorney general rod rosenstein was summoned there this morning. lly, speculation was building that he planned to resign or would be fired. this three days after an explosive report that claimed rosenstein talked about wearing a wire to tape the president and suggested invoking the 25th amendment to remove trump from office. it comes a day after trump distanced himself from the deputy a.g. in a sit down interview. he made it clear that the prospect of firing rosenstein was still on the table. >> will you fire rod rosenstein based on this? >>

what about rod rosenstein, shut the president fire rod rosenstein? >> that's up to the president. t -- i don't know. i like rosenstein, first. >> would you be concerned if he fired rod rosenstein? >> well, i think if he did something like that, it would cause a furor, which i don't think we need right now. >> some said it would be a constitutional crisis if he were to fire rosenstein in an effort to close the mueller investigation. do you -- >> everything is a constitutional crisis around here lately, it seems to me. and there's -- this president's been mistreated as far as i'm concerned. >> thanks, everybody. >> the allegations -- >> what? >> what concerns you most about the second allegation and maybe the democrats playing politics -- >> the second -- >> the one with deborah ramirez. "the new yorker" article. >> it's amazing these allegations come out of nowhere at the last minute and they weren't brought up earlier in this process. and it's not untypical for our friends on the other side to pull that kind of crap. >> sir, why -- >> now, that was the last question i was trying to

attorney general rod rosenstein.f on a new letter wearing hearing about. hello, everyone, i am julie banderas in for dana perino. this is "the daily briefing." ♪ >> julie: we begin with rod rosenstein. this morning, his job was in jeopardy. heading back to the justice department with an appointment to see the president this thursday. the same day, judge kavanaugh's accuser is set to testify in a dramatic public heari

know, as we all know rod rosenstein is the superior of robert mueller. is the person who controls the mueller investigation and decides whether mueller can continue in office. if rosenstein is fired, that responsibility falls to noel francisco, the solicitor general, unless and until there's a new deputy attorney general appointed. but, you know, the question is do republicans want this kind of chaos on the eve of the midterm elections or do they persuade the president, look, just do nothing and you can get rid of whoever you want after election day. >> there's a bunch of people he probably wants to get rid of after election day. >> not to mention the kavanaugh hearing, right. the cougkavanaugh nomination whi think everybody in the republican party would like the president to focus on and get it through before he does anything to cause police cal problems. >> a lot more coming up. stick around. i know you are both getting more information. i want to bring in our white house correspondent, kaitlan collins, who is in missouri where the president has a majo

dramatic and conflicting reports throughout the day today suggesting deputy attorney general rod rosenstein'sport. what we know at this hour. rosenstein is still the number two at the justice department. and after attending a meeting at the white house this morning, white house press secretary sarah huckabee sanders issued this statement. at the request of rod rosenstein, he and president trump had an extended conversation to discuss the recent news stories. because the president is at the u.n. ga and has a full schedule with leaders from around the world, they'll meet on thursday when the president returns to washington, d.c. when asked about rosenstein's future, the president was vague. >> i'm meet with rod rosenstein on thursday when i get back from all of these meetings. and we'll be meeting at the white house, and we'll be determining what's going

president trump moments ago discussing the fate of deputy attorney general rod rosenstein after sources say rosenstein submitted his resignation to white house chief of staff john kelly this weekend. >> our meeting with rod rosenstein on thursday, when i get back from all of these meetings. and we'll be meeting at the white house. and we'll be determining what's going on. we want to have transparency and openness and i look forward to meeting with rod at that time. >> it will be a meeting of tremendous consequence, given that rosenstein oversees the mueller probe. sources telling cnn that rosenstein was expecting to be fired today at a meeting with chief of staff kelly at the white house. president trump is in new york for the united nations general assembly meeting. this comes after the stunning "new york times" report that rosenstein considered secretly recording president trump, and that he talked about trying to gain the support of cabinet officials to potentially invoke the 25th amendment to remove mr. trump from office. rosenstein has reportedly denied both of those claims. let's

this all took place during rosenstein's second week on the job after he fired comey based on rod rosenstein's recommendation. by the way, under article two of our constitution, he didn't even have to like james comey's shoes and he could have fired him for that. rosenstein thought he might be able to persuade kelly and the white house chief of staff to invoke the 25th amendment. two weeks into the job, rod rosenstein wanted to wear a wire, secretly record a sitting president of the united states, invoked the 25th amendment. in otherer words, a silent coup against his boss by him, mccabe, others, all against a duly elected president. we are experiencing tonight a massive constitutional crisis and, frankly, this is designed to set up the president. i'll explain what this is about in a minute. tonight, rod rosenstein, he is publicly denying this report, calling the story inaccurate, factually inaccurate. he wrote, quote, i never pursued or authorized recording the president.y any suggestion that i have ever advocated for the removal of the president is absolutely false. given the numerous source

will he try to punish or fire rod rosenstein who as you know oversees the investigation. if he does, what else can come unglued. the discussions between rosenstein were documented in memos authored by fired fbi director andrew mccabe. the story first broke in "the new york times." adam goldman joins me now by phone. walk us through, adam, what you learned, what actually happened. >> well, let me just start by saying, you know, this story took months to report, okay? this wasn't a -- this wasn't a timed leak. we worked on this story for months, and we started gathering information and building up a picture of these chaotic days at the justice department and fbi shortly after james b. comey was fired as fbi director on may 19th, 2017. and so what we learned is on may 16th of 2017 there was a meeting, and in that meeting, the acting director of the fbi, andrew mccabe, wrote in a memo that rod had brought up the 25th amendment. and he memorialized that in a memo. and then in a separate meeting rod had raised the idea of wearing a wire in the white house. our understanding of t

deputy attorney general rod rosenstein as reportedly arrived at the white house amid a "new york times" report on friday. if the article reporting that back in may of 2017 shortly before rosenstein appointed special counsel robert mueller, the deputy attorney general suggested secretly recording president trump and discussed the possibility of removing the president from office. rosenstein has denied the report and one person who is reportedly in the room said that rosenstein was being sarcastic. just a short time ago, democratic senator kirsten gillibrand tweeting, they must step up to protect the special counsel immediately. we must pass a bipartisan bill to protect the mueller investigation. the american people deserve answers about russian interference in our democracy. chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge is live in washington. a lot of moving parts, with the latest? >> i've just been on the phone and a contact to his family with the discussions told fox news that they did focus on the deputy attorney general and whether they felt that he was compromised for a numbe

breaking news, really an amazing development this morning on the fate of deputy attorney general rod rosensteinwho appointed robert mueller, who kick started the special counsel's russia investigation. a source tells cnn that rosenstein has submitted his resignation. this comes after a bombshell report in "the new york times" friday, reporting that rosenstein discussed secretly recording conversations with president trump and also discussed invoking the 25th amendment to remove trump from office last year in the

rod rosenstein expecting to be fired. we do not know that has or will happen yet. out of the white house as rosenstein heads there now. the deputy a.g. at the justice department. we'll see what happens next. we'll be right back. hard to bre. so to breathe better, i go with anoro. ♪ go your own way copd tries to say, "go this way." i say, "i'll go my own way, with anoro." ♪ go your own way once-daily anoro contains two medicines called bronchodilators that work together to significantly improve lung function all day and all night. anoro is not for asthma. it contains a type of medicine that increases risk of death in people with asthma. the risk is unknown in copd. anoro won't replace rescue inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than once a day. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition, high blood pressure, glaucoma, prostate, bladder, or urinary problems. these may worsen with anoro. call your doctor if you have worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain while taking anoro. ask

>>. >> i do not think rod rosenstein gets fired on thursday. president wanted to have fired him, he would have already been fired and he wouldn't have been fired by the president himself. whether or not rosenstein resigns before thursday remains to be seen but i don't think he's getting fired. >> i agree. i think the president's m.o. he's shown us before is to try to force people into resigning rather than firing them. it's more politically palatable to do it that way and keeps him out of the line of fire. we've seen the president try to diffuse and debase jeff sessions with his tweets, hoping sessions would resign and he could put his own person in there to take over the mueller investigation. we could see the same thing happen when they sit down face-to-face thursday at the white house. putting rosenstein in an untenable position to force rosenstein's hands. >> jennifer, what do you think? >> there's not an insignificant chance that he actually will fire him. he's unpredictable. it would be a terrible idea politically that's why i think it's

this all took place during rosenstein's second week on the job after he fired comey based on rod rosenstein's recommendation. he didn't even have to like james comey's shoes and he could have fired him. rosenstein thought he might be able to persuade kelly and the white house chief of staff to invoke the 25th amendment. rod rosenstein wanted to wear a wire and secretly record a sitting president of the united states in both the 25th amendment, a silent coup against his boss by him, mccabe, others, all against a dual elected president. we are experiencing tonight a massive constitutional crisis and, frankly, this is designed to set up the president. i'll explain what this is about in a minute. tonight, rod rosenstein, he is publicly denying this report, calling the story inaccurate, factually inaccurate. he wrote, quote, i never pursued or authorized recording the president. any suggestion that i have ever advocated for the removal of the president is absolutely false. given the numerous sources, "the new york times" remains adamant in their reporting. two of their sources, one is andrew mccab

bob mueller and rod rosenstein.f either go, there will be a crumbling support in the investigation and process is important. you want that public support. >> what about that? >> you absolutely do and you're right. it's not new news that rod rosenstein has been vulnerable. he has been vulnerable with the doj under this approximation. he was looked at as a potential witness in the investigation because of his own drafting of a memorandum about why james comey usurped the authority of lo letta lynlet a lynch. he said look, robert mueller doesn't have checked power here. you have somebody who lets him do whatever he would like to do. there is no oversight vulnerable there as well. you have the latest thing where you put the president of the united states in the conundrum. either he has to go ahead and relish in the fact that he can have an out with firing somebody he doesn't want and andy cabe, the former acting fbi director who wrote the memo is not a liar and the new york times is authoritative and credible. the publi

the news in washington, the showdown between rod rosenstein and president trump. deputy attorney general rosenstein at the white house this hour with pete williams reporting that rosenstein was summoned this morning, but has no intention of resigning, that if they want to get rid of him, they're going to have to fire him. >> so, there was a bit of a constitutional fire drill in washington this morning. you might have noticed. amid reports that deputy attorney general rod rosenstein was called to the white house either expecting to be fired or preparing to resign depending on who you ask. that was after "the new york times" reported last week that rosenstein last year suggested secretly recording the president and discussed attempting to remove him from office under the 25th amendment. rosenstein denied the times reporting. turned out that rosenstein was at the white house for a previously scheduled meeting. when he left, he was still the deputy attorney general, still in charge of overseeing robert mueller's investigation. but that status quo may not last long beca

about rosenstein's future. either rod said maybe it's time for me to go or mcgahn said maybe it's time for you to go. that was discussed. today rosenstein gets summoned to the white house to have this meeting and the white house was saying he's coming here to resign. the justice department people were saying he's not kbigoing t resign. if they want him out, they'll have to fire him. we know that it all ended with pushing this matter off until thursday. the picture as rod rosenstein is leaving the white house, video we just showed a moment ago because it wasn't clear, i think because of the leads there. the man in the blue seat that is shaking hands with rod rosenstein as he walks outside the white house is john kelly, the white house chief of staff. that's him. he reaches his hand out. that's rosenstein through the trees. now you see him coming out. that's an extraordinary thing for the white house chief of staff to come out and say bye bye to the person who just had an appointment at the white house. that's an obvious at

this is not the time to fire rod rosenstein. you should not be doing this now. eported here on friday that there were republicans saying to him, you don't want to mix up the kavanaugh story with, you know, with the rosenstein story. just hold your fire. and you also have the mueller investigation. this isn't going to help anything. rosenstein thought he was going to be fired, perhaps he drafted -- perhaps he drafted some kind of letter. we don't know. spoke with kelly, went over there, expecting to be fired, and he wasn't fired. and the president was in new york. and so they spoke over the telephone, they agreed to meet on thursday. you know, we should say that it's been a relationship that's been fraught. the president hasn't liked the fact that he appointed bob mueller. a special counsel. they have been getting along better lately. so who knows what could happen. >> better than zero. you know what, this marriage cannot be saved. you know -- >> in the long-term. they're having counseling now. and, yeah -- that's right. >> but the marriage between sessions and th

that's why, i don't think this is enough to fire rod rosenstein.nd the president did it, it really would be a pretext to get a mueller investigation. it's really suspicious, the timing of all of this. you had paul manafort flip, michael cohen his long-time lawyer flip and all the sudden we see sources talking about what rod rosenstein did. >> that goes to what michael schmidt was defending and viewers can take this in for themselves and think about it both ways. on the one hand they may have spent a long time reporting this out and some of this may have just come together. on the other hand, the times may feel they've been working the story. some of it may have just come together because there may be people right now for a range of reasons who are going hard at rod rosenstein. it's quite noticeable and quite blatant when this is happening. >> that's absolutely correct. even the sources, as you had pointed out, were not in the room. it's hard to know if someone is being sarcastic or not if you're not listening to that statement firsthand. and i thin

concerns the fate of deputy attorney general rod rosenstein, and by extension, perhaps, the fate of thevestigation. comes after that report last week in "the new york times" about rosenstein discussing taping the president and enlisting cabinet members in efforts to remove him under the 25th amendment. going into today, rosenstein was thought to be on thin ice. earlier today, it looked like the ice was cracking. now yet another story. cnn's jim acosta joins us with the latest. what are you learning tonight? >> reporter: well, anderson, we understand that since this story broke on friday about rod rosenstein, you know, secretly offering to record the president invoking the 25th amendment, and trying to get that conversation started behind the scenes in early 2017, that ever since that story broke, he's been talking about this with chief of staff john kelly, been talking about this with the white house counsel don mcgahn. but anderson, i'm told by an administration official that one of the hang-ups today in terms of letting rod rosenstein go was the fact that they believe, many many peopl

will he try to punish or fire rod rosenstein who as you know oversees the russia investigation. if he does, what else can come unglued. the discussions between rosenstein were documented in memos authored by fired fbi director andrew mccabe. seen here on the left. the story first broke in "the new york times." correspondent adam goldman joins me now by phone. walk us through, adam, what you learned, what actually happened. >> well, let me just start by saying, you know, this story took months to report, okay? this wasn't a -- this wasn't a timed leak. we worked on this story for months, and we started gathering information and building up a picture of these chaotic days at the justice department and fbi shortly after james b. comey was fired as fbi director on may 19th, 2017. and so what we learned was on may 16th of 2017, there was a meeting, and in that meeting, the acting director of the fbi, andrew mccabe, wrote in a memo that rod had brought up the 25th amendment. and he memorialized that in a memo. and then in a separate meeting rod had raised the idea of wearing a wire in

and is that up to, in this case, rod rosenstein? this has been one of the long-term mysteries. everybody has been talking about the report mueller will write. but if you look at the regulation under which mueller has been appointed, all he's supposed to do is file a report. and it's not even clear what that report is supposed to contain. and give it to his supervisor. it was rod rosenstein. and then he decides, does he give it to the congress? does he make it public. that's another very important responsibility of whoever takes over this job, what happens to mueller's report. >> preet, i mean, the president obviously has made his displeasure about his attorney general very clear for quite a long time. and, you know, there's wide speculation, rumor, belief, perhaps, that after the midterms, jeff sessions could be let go. if that was the case, wouldn't, potentially, that have an impact on the mueller investigation, regardless of what happens to rosenstein? yeah, i mean, it doesn't have a direct effect, because as everyone knows, and t

"new york times" reporting rod rosenstein discussed secretly recording president trump around the timetor james comey. the report also saying rosenstein talked about possibly invoking the 25th amendment to remove the president from office, rod rosenstein firmly denying the story. kevin corke is traveling with the president and in las vegas. he joins us now kevin? >> you know, never a dull moment. i'm actually just looking, dana, at some of my notes. and i think i want to share two very important things. first of all, in reaching out to the white house we have to get any response. i understand the president is taking part in a veterans event at this hour. and so we have not yet heard back specifically from the team. as soon as i do. i will be certain to pass along that information to you. i think a more broad view of this particular story is first of all, the idea that the deputy attorney general might, according to the "new york times," consider surreptitiously recording the president of the united states in an effort to willed build consensus or case if you will to remove him from off

here is some of the headlines this morning about rod rosenstein. ump summons rosenstein and the implication may be ominous for the deputy attorney general. from the wall street journal, he is out, he is in, rosenstein trump to discuss the future. there is a picture from the white house driveway of rod rosenstein and white house chief of staff john kelly after their brief meeting yesterday at the white house. here is president trump up in new york at the u.n. general assembly meeting. this is president trump from yesterday talking about rod rosenstein. [video clip] >> i am meeting with rod rosenstein on thursday when i get back from all these meetings and we will be meeting at the white house and determining what is going on. andant to have transparency openness and i look forward to meeting with rod at that time. we are going to have a meeting on thursday when i get back. right now we are meeting with a lot of great people, including president moon. over the next couple of days, we are meeting with many countries. i will be back on thursday and when

rod rosenstein has been in the department for 30 years. he's a very cautious lawyer. this doesn't sound like words that would come out of rosenstein's mouth, especially so early in his tenure in the department of justice. i don't know what the true sourcing of this is, but as with the reporting last week about dowd not interviewing witnesses after they testified with mueller, which i do not believe is the case, i think he did, in fact, debrief them, i do not credit this at this moment. i could be wrong, i often am, but it just doesn't strike me as consistent with who rod rosenstein is and why at this point in his tenure discussions of the 25th amend amount and wearing a wire would even be part of his contemplation. >> there's also -- i just want to pick up on what you said there because your knowledge of him both as a -- both personally and professionally, there are also these accounts in here. allow me to find the page here, but there is in the reporting a spokesperson, i believe it's from the justice department, here we go, a justice department spokeswoman provided a

the president is furious about the russia investigation and blames rod rosenstein for all of it. certainly there are questions of loyalty here as well. dave and christine. >> jeff zeleny for us. thanks, jeff. jay sekulow calling for a time-out in the russia investigation if rosenstein leaves his post. as for who may succeed rosenstein, the next in line is joel francisco. he worked in the bush white house. there are questions if he needs a waiver to address conflicts of interest. he is a partner at the law firm jones & day. >>> president trump's standing by his supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh telling fox news the president called him on monday to express support. the judge remaining defiant in the sexual assault allegations that threaten his confirmation. >> i'll not let false accusations drive us out of the process. we're looking for a fair process where i can be heard and defend my integrity and my life long record of promoting dignity and equality for women, including the women who knew me when i was 14 years old. i'm not going anywhere. >> "the washington post" reports th

lindsey graham said this on fox news sunday about rod rosenstein's role. >> i don't know what rod rosenstein did but i know what page and stzrok did, tried to destroy this president, they should be fired, if he's not involved leave him alone. shannon: the president and rosenstein thursday, how do you think that meeting goes? >> i don't know. i would want to be a fly on the wall. this whole saga indicates there is panic when we don't know if rod rosenstein will remain or not, a great indication it is time to protect special counsel investigation. the independence of that investigation should but hinge on whether one single person remains employed at the department of justice. shannon: what do you think about calls to pass a law that would protect special counsel in this process is there is any threat to his ability to continue the investigation? >> there would be severe constitutional problems. underlying these problems is you have an attorney general in jeff sessions who can't and won't do his job. that is a fundamental issue. all this hysteria about what is going to happen or not is self pe

rod rosenstein said he was being sarcastic. t's advisors are urging him to stay calm. this might have been designed by andrew mccabe to get him to over-react. rosenstein appointed the special robert mueller is oversees his budget and one of the president's lawyers said this might mean a pause to the probe. watch. >> this looks to me like a low moving saturday night massacre. it seems like the only question is whether these steps take place now or take place after the mid-terms when the president believes he will pay less of a political price. >> the review has to be thorough and complete and include an investigation with all of these allegations go back to strzok and page and bruce ohr. >> if rosenstein exits next in line is noel francisco and then steven engel. both are more conservative than rosenstein. rosenstein will learn his only fate thursday. there is other stuff in washington happening on thursday. the kavanaugh hearing and rosenstein. >> martha: yes, brett kavanaugh and his accuser dr. ford. >> a dramatic few days. we

robert mueller's boss rod rosenstein has been fired by donald trump. or he resigned. or he is about to resign. or both, or neither. either way, it is breaking news. >> the breaking news now cnn can report that the deputy attorney general rod rosenstein is expected to be fired by president trump. >> rod rosenstein, nbc news is reporting that he has offered to resign. >> i want to ask you also to react to the rod rosenstein news that we don't know exactly what it is. >> is he offering his resignation, is he resigning, is he getting fired? i'm confused why there is so much confusion. >> and i wish i could help with your confusion but i too am confused with your confusion as those who are watching right now are so confused. >> trevor: thank you, news.

deputy attorney general rod rosenstein is expected to leave office that's according to media reports which earlier claimed rosenstein had suggested secretly take. president preside over the security council i am sure that's going to be the most watched security council meeting ever a lot of good things can happen. anticipation grows over donald trump speech at the u.n. general assembly on choose day with some hoping the president will use it to rebuild the shattered international relations. and the rates of sexual assaults in south africa now ranks among the world's highest with new cases opening old wounds we hear from some of the victims. of to fear. of depression actually trying to commit suicide this happened so many years ago. but i can get into nothing would have been done. it's nine o'clock am in moscow and you're watching r.t. international live from our studio with me welcome to the program and we go straight into our breaking news story russia's defense ministry has released second by second radar data showing exactly what happened in syrian airspace in the immediate run up

i wonder if this is an attempt to undermine rod rosenstein. the times writes "in the end, the idea went nowhere, officials said, but they called mr. rosenstein's comments an example of how erratically that he was behaving." that sounds like a slam at rosenstein himself. you wonder whether this was leaked to perhaps shorten his tenure in the job. >> that's a good question. the only point i would make is, these are good reporters at the "new york times" and they wouldn't put this out there if they didn't think that rod rosenstein had seriously considered and brought this up with some of his colleagues at justice and the fbi. in other words, they're not just taking this and saying, well, somebody wants to take a shot at rod rosenstein. they're saying rosenstein was seriously talking about this in may of 2017, just at the time that james comey was fired by the president and just at the time that he, rosenstein, appointed robert mueller to carry out the russia investigation. >> clearly the president is not going to take kindly to this account and pr

the president said this. >> i will be meeting with rod rosenstein thursday. ting at the white house and determining what's going on. we want transparency and openness. i look forward to meeting with rod at that time. charles: there was an additional accuser

remind us how alarmed rod rosenstein was at that period and what heightened his alarm. >> rosenstein was unnerved. he had played a significant role in the comey firing. he had provided the memo the white house uses as the rationale for it saying that he handled that investigation of hillary clinton incorrectly. then rosenstein was being criticized sharply for basically helping create what was believed to be a fake story about why they fired him, and rosenstein sort of lost it. he became unnerved. he was very emotional. he was very upset. he said things that were at times irrational and didn't really add up with what was going on around him. in that period of time he discussed two things that we found particularly interesting. one of them was about wearing a wire, and the other was about the 25th amendment. for us this provided a window into what was going on at the justice department at this crucial time as the justice department made the ultimate decision, the extraordinary decision of appointing a special counsel to investigate the president of the united states. >> how long have y

rod rosenstein that we know today. and so jeremy is absolutely right. the president would be looking at a different rod rosenstein if he chose the comments he made in may of 2017 as validation for firing him. >> now jeremy just made the point we may have come very close to a friday night massacre. if this were espn, this piece of video i'm going to show you would be number one on the countdown. i want to show you this. this is sean hannity tonight on fox news directly to camera and speaking to just one viewer. >> i have a message for the president tonight. under zero circumstances should the president fire anybody, these actors tonight, and i've had multiple sources confirming this, and more information coming. they are hoping and praying that the president does just that. they're hoping he gets mad, that he gets sick and tired of it, and that they can turn this politically into their equivalent of a friday night massacre. the president needs to know it is all a setup. he needs to know that regardless of whether he ste

there's a lingering stench, and we're going to get rid of that, too. >> rod rosenstein had a shocked reaction to something we all know to be true. that is that the white house is a circus. >> james comey needs to fire rod rosenstein. if he doesn't, donald trump needs to fire both of them. >> brett kavanaugh is a fantastic man. he was born for the u.s. court, born for it. and it's going to happen. >> the alleged attack is as bad as she says it was, christine blasey ford would have filed charges. >> i thought that the president's tweet was completely inappropriate and wrong. >>> good morning to you, good to have you this saturday. i'm victor blackwell. >> i'm diane gallagher in this morning for christi paul. >> deputy attorney general rod rosenstein first said he will comment no further, and then he commented further. >> yeah. >> that's after there was the reporting that he discussed wearing a wire to record conversations with president trump last year. >> yeah, look, cnn sources have confirmed the story that was first reported now by "the new york times" that in the days after james co

the future of attorney general rod rosenstein, the man who over sees robert mueller's investigation is in limbo. what does that mean? a day filled with drama and confusion, rosenstein meets with president trump in person on thursday to learn his fate. >> of course thursday is the day that brett kavanaugh will be in washington, along with christine blasey ford. and there is a new development in the supreme court show down. moments ago white house press secretary said that president trump is open to having the senate hear from deborah ramirez, who told the new yorker that brett kavanaugh put his genitals in her face in college, which brett kavanaugh denies. >> does the president want ms. ramirez to appear before the senate judiciary committee as well? >> certainly we would be open to that, and that process could take place on thursday. the president has been clear. let them speak, but let's also let brett kavanaugh speak and let's let him tell his side of the story before we allow allegations to determine his entire future. >> it is notable, we think, that the president is open, as sara

a lot of folks on capitol hill have been calling for impeachment of rod rosenstein or removal of rod tein, tempering their enthusiasm for that to say the least. what -- remind us what would happen if he was removed from this investigation. >> it would fall to the islamist for general noel francisco. it normally would fall to the number three at the justice department but we currently have an acting. it would call to francisco and he would be overseeing the mueller investigation in a way that rod rosenstein has been. theres no reason to think he would do anything to sometimy it according to people i have spoken to that know him. they say he's a rosenstein-esque figure, plays by the rules. there are questions about whether he would even want the job, it might be like a hot potato where he tries to pass it off because he does potentially have a conflict of interest, he worked for the law firm that represented the trump campaign. there are questions about whether or not he would actually do that, at which point the white house would have to weigh its options. a more interesting result wou