WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump said Monday he has no intention of firing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, ending lingering uncertainty over the official's tenure in the wake of reports he had suggested invoking the 25th Amendment last year to remove Trump.

“I get along very well with him,” he told reporters as he departed the White House bound for Orlando and an event with police chiefs. Asked if he planned to fire Rosenstein, Trump replied, "No, I don't."

Trump and Rosenstein talked for about a half-hour aboard Air Force One, according to spokesman Hogan Gidley.

Later, during his remarks to the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Trump thanked the deputy attorney general for accompanying him to Florida, adding: "We had a very good talk."

He went on to describe the drama that had preceded their meeting as a “a very big story," though it appeared that any differences between the two had been settled, for now.

Indeed, Rosenstein's fate was the theme that shadowed both legs of Trump's brief trip to Florida. On his return to the White House Monday afternoon, Trump again offered an endorsement for the deputy attorney general.

"We actually get along," the president told reporters. "I’m not making any changes. You’d be the first to know.”

The prospect of Rosenstein's departure raised deep concerns for the future of Robert Mueller's inquiry into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, which the president has repeatedly disparaged as a "witch-hunt." Mueller was appointed by Rosenstein, who inherited oversight of the probe after Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from Russia-related matters last year.

In his brief comments Monday, Trump reasserted that the Russia inquiry was misguided.

"There's been no collusion, folks," the president said.

Last month, Trump delayed a hastily scheduled meeting with Rosenstein when the two were set to discuss reports the deputy attorney general had also suggested at a meeting with top Justice and FBI officials last year that he wear a wire to record his encounters with the president in an alleged attempt to capture evidence of Trump's instability.

The urgency for the earlier meeting appeared to abate last month after Trump signaled his support for Rosenstein, who has repeatedly denied the accounts first reported by The New York Times. At the time, Trump said he was delaying the discussion with Rosenstein to focus his attention on the then-embattled nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

Kavanaugh was narrowly confirmed by the Senate Saturday after a contentious nomination process marked by allegations against him of sexual assault. Kavanaugh denied the allegations.

Trump administration officials had warned the president that Rosenstein's departure –either voluntary or by order – could inject more chaos into administration operations just weeks before the midterm elections where Republican leadership of the Congress is seriously threatened.

Only two weeks ago, Rosenstein's hold on the No. 2 job at Justice appeared to be slipping away, when he was summoned to a meeting with chief of staff John Kelly at the White House. Rosenstein had expected to be dismissed, as questions continued to swirl about reported discussions of removing Trump after the president's abrupt firing of FBI Director James Comey.

Rosenstein reportedly contemplated pursuing Trump's removal in spring 2017, when the White House had been plunged into chaos after Comey's dismissal.

The discussions, memorialized in notes authored by then-FBI Director Andrew McCabe, involved about a half-dozen other top Justice and FBI officials.

Another party to the meeting, who declined to be identified but whose account was provided to USA TODAY, remembered the reference to using a wire. But the person described Rosenstein's comment as "sarcastic," adding that there was no real intention to record the president.

While Rosenstein is set to remain on the job, it remained unclear for how long. Some Republican lawmakers, including South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Trump adviser, have suggested that changes at the top rungs of the Justice Department could come soon after the November midterm elections.

Fight over documents

A task force of House Republicans also planned to meet with Rosenstein as early as this week. Members of the Judiciary and Oversight committees have criticized Rosenstein for withholding documents from Congress.

The top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, said he would demand access to the meeting.

Meanwhile, the fate of Sessions, who has drawn Trump's continuing ire for his decision last year to recuse himself from the Russia inquiry, may be more uncertain than Rosenstein.

In an interview with Hill.TV last month, Trump lamented: "I don't have an attorney general. It's very sad."

Trump has criticized Rosenstein, in large part for his decision to appoint Mueller whose inquiry includes whether the president sought to obstruct the investigation by firing Comey.

As part of his oversight role, Rosenstein has authority to dismiss Mueller. But he has consistently voiced strong support for his work.

"The special counsel is not an unguided missile," Rosenstein said in a a March interview with USA TODAY. "I don't believe there is any justification at this point for terminating the special counsel."

For his part, Rosenstein has sought to dismiss the near-constant and pointed criticism from the White House, the House Freedom Caucus – whose members have raised the prospect of Rosenstein's impeachment – and from an ultra-conservative Tea Party Patriots group.

The group once ran an ugly ad campaign, describing Rosenstein as "a weak careerist" and called for his resignation.

"I believe much of the criticism will fall by the wayside when people reflect on this era and the Department of Justice," Rosenstein said in the March USA TODAY interview. "I'm very confident that when the history of this era is written, it will reflect that the department was operated with integrity."