Rosenstein to Meet Trump Thursday, Fate of Russia Probe in Question.
T APPER: Welcome back. Do not assume that Rod Rosenstein is going to be kicked to the curb. That's the line coming from the White House as the deputy attorney general is set to meet face-to-face with President Trump on Thursday, with the fate of the Russia investigation possibly also on the line. CNN's Laura Jarrett is at the Justice Department. And, Laura, there are reports there was a Rosenstein exit letter already drafted?</s>LAURA JARRETT, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: Jake, that's right. Officials over here at the Justice Department were all geared up, ready to go, believing that his departure was imminent. But, of course, it never happened. And then he returned to the Justice Department yesterday afternoon, carried on with his day as if nothing happened. But, of course, his longer-term status here as the number two in command still very much in limbo.</s>JARRETT (voice-over): The future of Russia probe leader Rod Rosenstein may still be in peril, with lawmakers now pressing for the Justice Department's number two to testify on Capitol Hill. The president in New York today trying to redirect attention to the work at the</s>U.N. DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm meeting with Rod Rosenstein on Thursday. Today I'm doing other things.</s>JARRETT: White House officials caution Rosenstein may not be out of the job, as White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders added to the ambiguity.</s>SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Obviously, the president has been disappointed by a number of actions that have taken place at the Department of Justice. And he wants some answers to some of the questions that he has. Some of them have to do with Rod Rosenstein, some of them have nothing to do with him.</s>JARRETT: The Justice Department prepared a statement Monday, ahead of what they thought was Rosenstein's last day, according to sources. The statement, obtained by "Axios", read in part, quote, Rod Rosenstein has served Department of Justice with skill for 28 years. His contributions are many and significant. We all appreciate his service and sincerely wish him well. Officials were also ready to name Matt Whitaker, Attorney General Jeff Sessions' current chief of staff, as Rosenstein's replacement. Whitaker, a former CNN legal contributor, urged Rosenstein last year to order special counsel Robert Mueller to limit the scope of his investigation. But if Rosenstein leaves, Whitaker won't oversee the Russia probe. That will fall to Solicitor General Noel Francisco. Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, Republicans are calling for the deputy A.G. to be subpoenaed over the story that started it all. Reports that Rosenstein discussed secretly taping the president and invoking the 25th Amendment to remove him from office. One source in the room dismissed to CNN as sarcasm, but Republican Congressman Mark Meadows isn't laughing, tweeting, you can't have the number two official at the Department of Justice making comments about wiring the president and not address it. Rod Rosenstein must come before Congress this week, under oath, and tell the truth about his alleged statements. And Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz says the story could be career- ending.</s>REP. MATT GAETZ (R), FLORIDA: I don't think it's appropriate to joke about taking an action against the institution of the presidency while you're overseeing an investigation.</s>CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST, "CUOMO PRIME TIME": Fireable?</s>GAETZ: Probably.</s>JARRETT: Others on Capitol Hill, however, raising very different concerns. Republican senator of Maine, Susan Collins, who I should mention is a key swing vote for the president on his embattled nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, saying to reporters just a short time ago, Jake, that forcing Rosenstein out would be, quote, a huge red line and very problematic -- Jake.</s>TAPPER: All right. Laura Jarrett, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Let's discuss with our experts Phil Mudd, former FBI official, is here with me. I want to play the sound again from Sarah Sanders, talking about Rod Rosenstein and the Justice Department, because it's really stark. I know we've all gotten accustomed to this. But this is the White House press secretary talking about her own Justice Department.</s>SANDERS: The president has been disappointed by a number of actions that have taken place at the Department of Justice. Some of them have to do with Rod Rosenstein. Some of them have nothing to do with him. But it is Department of Justice. And it should work to actually fix and hold up law and order, not complicate or undermine law and order.</s>TAPPER: Again, that is the White House press secretary, saying that the Justice Department under her own president undermines law and order.</s>PHIL MUDD, CNN COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: Well, if you ask the American citizens if they have a gang problem, if they have a drug problem, if you go back to Enron, if they have a white collar crime problem, who the heck are you going to call? I think 98 percent of the American population would say not only would I call the FBI, but I would trust them. Guys, I went over there. I wore like different colored socks some days and the FBI guys would be like, what's wrong with you? These guys are arrow-straight. My point is, the president of the United States in this 1 percent -- probably less than 1 percent of the FBI resources. That is the investigations that Rod Rosenstein has been involved in, the Russia investigation, has persuaded the American people that 99 percent of the world, you trust them. And in this one area, where people, including judges, have said these cases are not only predicated, but have led to guilty pleas, this you shouldn't trust him. I don't get it. I trusted the FBI. I saw them for four and a half years and I think most Americans still would, unless it's Russia.</s>TAPPER: So it seems as though the most likely bet is that Rod Rosenstein has a judge, at least through the mid terms. There's a lot of pushback going on.</s>BOLDEN: At least politically.</s>TAPPER: Yes. Well, the reporting is that Chief of Staff Kelly and others want him to have -- they don't want this issue before the midterms.</s>BOLDEN: Well politic -- I'm sorry, good right ahead.</s>TAPPER: As a political issue. But do you think that that means that Mueller and Rosenstein should think about the fact that their days might be numbered?</s>BOLDEN: I think Rosenstein needs to think about what's next. But I think the GOP in the House, Senate and White House need to think about what's next. Because if you take Rosenstein out, you're taking out someone that has many respects been the glue between the chaos, between Mueller, between the public and the House and the Senate, because he's got a lot of credibility. Secondly, there will always be that concern that he was removed because of the president's dislike of him or of the Russia investigation. That's the constitutional crisis that the House and Senate don't want to get into. But who takes over for him? And what do they do? They'll feel the same pressure that Rosenstein feels. That's not going to change. And even if they are big Trump backers, even Trump and whoever the next one will be will feel that, remember, this is a Republican-led investigation endorsed by all the Republican powers. It's got to see an end, because we're talking about our democracy, our voting rights, our systems. Not just about whether Trump colluded with Russia. That's a part of it, but it's really super-important to the American people.</s>TAPPER: And yet you have these House Republicans who have been really pushing against Rosenstein for a long time. We saw them in the -- in the piece just there, Laura Jarrett's piece. You have Matt Gaetz, Mark Meadows, they have not liked Rosenstein. They have been talking about impeaching Rosenstein.</s>POWERS: Right. Well, I think --</s>TAPPER: Before this "New York Times" story.</s>POWERS: I think the question has always been not if he's going to get fired, but when he's going to get fired. It's been pretty clear that they've -- that that's what a lot of people who support Trump and I think Donald Trump probably wants this reporting about the 25th Amendment and allegedly wanting to wiretap him, which, of course, Rosenstein has denied, gives Donald Trump the excuse. And so, I guess he could argue, you know, I didn't do it before the election, because that would have been bad. And then after the election, he decides he's really upset about it. But they're having this meeting on Thursday. So, it feels like this would be the opportunity for him to do it in a way where most people would say, yes, most presidents would be pretty mad about that if that happened.</s>TAPPER: Certainly. But I can't imagine -- I mean, Mark Meadows and the Freedom Caucus, they really love President Trump. And I can't imagine a hearing like that would actually happen without President Trump's tacit approval. One demanding that Rosenstein answer under oath what he did or did not do as reported in the "New York Times."</s>HOLMES: I mean, I don't know. I think House Republicans have run a number through the Intel Committee, through the Reform Committee, a number of different hearings that, you know, if I were running communications in the White House, would probably not be my first choice of things to do. But their frustration is real. And I think the president's frustration is real, because the reality is, the moment he decided to fire Comey, he was boxed in on Rosenstein and Sessions, period. And the cavalcade -- the sort of dominoes that fell afterwards put him in a place where just optically, it's impossible. No matter how much he feels like they're not doing their job or they're not responsive to his administration's agenda, all of that kind of doesn't matter, because of the optical box that he's now in, vis-a-vis the Russia investigation.</s>TAPPER: Yes. Everyone, stick around. Coming up next, Cruz confronted. The tense moments for the Texas senator and his wife at a D.C. restaurant. What these activists wanted him to hear as President Trump sends his own message to voters ahead of the midterm. Stay with us.