Trump’s meeting with Rosenstein canceled due to Ford’s hearing in the U.S Senate

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The White House has canceled a scheduled meeting between the Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and the U.S President Donald Trump. The cancellation took place because such a meeting could interrupt the Senate hearing. The U.S Senate is currently hearing Dr. Christine Blasey Ford declaring Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh allegedly sexually assaulted her when they were both teenagers. The White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced the decision, she said, “The president spoke with Rod Rosenstein a few minutes ago and they plan to meet next week. They do not want to do anything to interfere with the hearing”.

Rosenstein’s job security has been in question after it was reported in The New York Times. The NY Times suggested that he had secretly recorded the president, and discussed potentially recruiting members of Trump’s cabinet to remove him from office under the 25th Amendment in the U.S Constitution. The 25th Amendment allows for the vice president and a majority of the president’s cabinet to terminate the president from office by declaring him “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office”. Rosenstein has called the report “incorrect”. Trump hasn’t been clear regarding his plans for Rosenstein.

The U.S President has suggested that Rosenstein should be fired. Reports also indicated that he was open to the idea of keeping him in his position. There were some conflicting reports regarding whether Rosenstein was willing to resign instead of termination. Rosenstein’s termination could create various serious political measures and complications. Rosenstein is in charge of overseeing the operations of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Firing Rosenstein could leave the floor open for new oversight of Mueller’s team. The deputy attorney general is in charge of the Mueller probe due to Attorney General Jeff Sessions pulled out himself from the investigation.