White House postpones Trump-Rosenstein meeting to avoid ‘interfering’ in Brett Kavanaugh accuser hearing

The White House has postponed a planned meeting between Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and President Donald Trump, citing concern that such a meeting could “interfere” with the Senate hearing where Dr Christine Blasey Ford is testifying Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh allegedly sexually assaulted her when they were both teenagers.

The decision was announced to reporters by White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who 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”.

Mr Rosenstein’s job security has been in question after it was reported in The New York Times that he had suggested secretly recording the president, and that he had discussed potentially recruiting members of Mr Trump’s cabinet to remove him from office under the 25th Amendment.

The 25th Amendment allows for the vice president and a majority of the president’s cabinet to remove the president from office by declaring him “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office”. Mr Rosenstein has called the report "inaccurate".

Mr Trump has not been clear about his plans for Mr Rosenstein.

At times, the president has suggested that Mr Rosenstein should be fired, and at others — including just hours before the planned meeting on Thursday — reports indicated he was open to the idea of keeping him in his position. There have also been conflicting reports about whether Mr Rosenstein was willing to resign rather than be sacked.

Firing Mr Rosenstein could have serious political consequences and ramifications.

Mr Rosenstein is in charge of overseeing the operations of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, and whether associates of Mr Trump’s campaign conspired with Russians to sway that election.

Firing Mr Rosenstein could leave the floor open for new oversight of Mr Mueller’s team, which could determine whether the probe remains open, has drastically changed parameters, or even if is shut down.

The deputy attorney general is in charge of the Mueller probe because Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the investigation, citing Justice Department protocol to stay out of investigations into campaigns in which individual officials were involved. He had met with Russian officials when part of Mr Trump’s campaign.