President Trump Postpones Meeting With Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein

Courtesy: MGN, PBS

President Donald Trump has postponed his highly anticipated meeting with embattled Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein until next week to avoid interfering with the Senate hearing on sexual assault allegations against his Supreme Court nominee.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders says the president spoke with Rosenstein "a few minutes ago" and they now plan to meet next week.

She said, "They do not want to do anything to interfere with the hearing."

Rosenstein's job is in question following reports he discussed possibly secretly recording the president and using the Constitution's 25th Amendment to remove him from office.

Trump says he has denied the reports.

Trump also said Wednesday he'd "certainly prefer not" to fire Rosenstein, the Justice Department's No. 2 official who is overseeing the special counsel investigation into Russian election meddling.

Rosenstein expected to be fired on Monday, when he met with John Kelly, Trump's chief of staff. Instead, Rosenstein and Trump talked on the phone and questions about his future were effectively tabled until Thursday.

Rosenstein previously issued a pair of denials, saying The Times report is inaccurate.

Should Rosenstein resign or be fired, oversight of special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe would be passed to Solicitor General Noel Francisco, according to the Justice Department. 

(The Associated Press, CBS News contributed to this report.)