Update: Resigned, Fired, or…? Rosenstein soon out at White House either way… maybe: Reports

Conflicting reports say that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein either “verbally resigned”, is “about to be fired”, or he’s just going to meet the president later this week – either it looks like this embattled member of the Trump administration is on his way out or not… or something.

Rosenstein came under fire this weekend when the New York Times reported that he had offered to wear a wire and record the president in hopes of gathering evidence so that the 25th amendment could be used to remove the president from office. A claim Rosenstein vehemently denied.

While the NYT piece likely pushed the president to terminate Rosenstein, the Deputy A.G.’s inability to reign in the corruption at the FBI and his approval of a special counsel on Russian collusion likely laid the groundwork.

Axios reported that Rosenstein “verbally resigned” to Chief of Staff John Kelly Monday morning, supposedly because he knew he was about to be fired.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has verbally resigned to Chief of Staff John Kelly in anticipation of being fired by President Trump, according to a source with direct knowledge. Per a second source with direct knowledge: “He’s expecting to be fired,” so he plans to step down.

Fox News, on the contrary, reported that the Deputy A.G. was on his way to the White House Monday morning because he was about to get fired.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is heading to the White House expecting to be fired, sources tell Fox News, in the wake of a report that he suggested wearing a wire against President Trump and invoking the 25th Amendment to remove him from office last year.

Then, later Monday – the White House issued a statement saying that Rosenstein is still in the administration and will meet with the president on Thursday.

At the request of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, he and President Trump had an extended conversation to discuss the recent news stories. Because the President is at the United Nations General Assembly and has a full schedule with leaders from around the world, they will meet on Thursday when the President returns to Washington, D.C,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.

Should he leave the administration insiders speculate that Trump will tap Solicitor General Noel Francisco as the new Deputy Attorney General. Francisco has been critical of the FBI.

How, or if, Rosenstein will leave the Trump administration is a bit unclear.

Editor’s note: This post was updated to reflect that new reports say the Rosenstein will meet with the President Thursday and has not yet either quit or been fired as was initially reported.