Asked directly if he has plans to fire Rosenstein, President Donald Trump said "no, I don't." | Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images White House Trump: No plans to fire Rosenstein

President Donald Trump and deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein held their much-anticipated meeting aboard Air Force One on Monday, White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley told reporters traveling with the president.

Rosenstein accompanied the president to Orlando on Monday, where he addressed the annual convention of the International Association of Chiefs of Police. In his remarks at the convention, Trump thanked Rosenstein for joining him on the trip and said the two had a "very good talk." The president also joked about the intense press coverage his meeting with Rosenstein had garnered.


"The press wants to know, 'what did you talk about?'" Trump said, eliciting laughter from the crowd. "But we had a very good talk, I will say it. That became a very big story, actually folks. But we had a good talk."

Rosenstein’s status in the Trump Administration has reportedly been in limbo since The New York Times reported that he discussed invoking the 25th Amendment to remove the president from office and secretly recording Trump in the wake of his decision to fire former FBI Director James Comey. Rosenstein has denied the Times's reporting.

The two men, who were also joined by White House chief of staff John Kelly and acting Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Ed O’Callaghan, discussed "the International Chiefs of Police event later today, support for our great law enforcement officials, border security, how to better address violent crime in Chicago, and general DOJ business," Gidley said in a statement issued to the White House press pool. The meeting lasted roughly 45 minutes, the White House spokesman said.

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The conversation between Trump and Rosenstein followed remarks from the president earlier Monday, when he told reporters that he did not intend to fire the deputy attorney general. The president said he "didn't know Rod before, but I've gotten to know him and I get along very well with him."

"I look forward to being with him. That'll be very nice," Trump said ahead of the flight. Asked directly if he had plans to fire Rosenstein, Trump replied, "no, I don't."

Because Attorney General Jeff Sessions has recused himself from all investigations related to the 2016 election, Rosenstein oversees the Russia probe led by special counsel Robert Mueller, whose work Trump has labeled a "witch hunt."

Trump and Rosenstein were previously scheduled to meet late last month, a face-to-face that the pair rescheduled because it was set for the same day as a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on allegations of sexual assault against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

In addition to his meeting with the president, Rosenstein has also agreed to meet later this week with House Republicans.

