WASHINGTON: Donald Trump will meet this week with the deputy attorney gen­­­­eral overseeing the pro­be into the president’s alle­ged collusion with Russia, the White House said on Monday after reports that Rod Rosenstein was about to resign or be fired.

Rosenstein’s job has looked untenable since last week’s bombshell publication of reports that he had discussed ways to remove Trump from office, due to incompetence.

“At the request of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, he and president Trump had an extended conversation to discuss the recent news stories,” the White House spokeswoman, Sarah Sanders, said.

“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, DC,” she said in a statement.

The White House statement neither confirmed nor put to rest mounting rumours that Rosenstein is on the way out.

Rosenstein plays a key role in overseeing the high-powered investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, which Trump calls a politically motivated “witch hunt”.

Rosenstein was received on Monday for a meeting at the White House by the chief of staff, John Kelly, with US media initially reporting that this might be the mo­­ment when he stepped down or was forced aside. A decision on that was then evidently put off to Thursday.

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2018