The meeting took place days after the Russia investigation, which Rosenstein oversees, appeared to run out of bounds with FBI agents raiding the home, hotel room, and office of Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, on Monday.
A White House official said that Trump and Rosenstein met about routine matters. The meeting appears to have been arranged quickly since Rosenstein failed to appear at a scheduled event with Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Justice Department officials said that Trump and Rosenstein discussed document production to Congress. Rosenstein also met White House Counsel Don McGahn.
Trump has criticized Rosenstein and Special Counsel Robert Mueller over their handling of the probe into allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. The investigation is approaching its anniversary and has not produced a single indictment supporting the collusion claim.
“Mueller is most conflicted of all (except Rosenstein who signed FISA & Comey letter),” Trump tweeted Wednesday.
By FISA, Trump was referring to the Foreign Affairs Surveillance Court warrant application to surveil Trump-campaign volunteer Carter Page. That application was based largely on an unverified dossier compiled by a former British spy who was ultimately paid by Hillary Clinton. The former spy used second- and third-hand sources close to the Kremlin while the company which hired him to perform the work, Fusion GPS, received money from Russia.
Trump appointed Rosenstein who in turn appointed Mueller. Sessions, also a Trump appointee, recused himself from the Russia investigation.
Mueller, the main investigator in the Russia probe, referred Cohen’s case to federal authorities in New York because the matter is outside the boundaries of the Russia probe. Rosenstein personally signed off on the decision to raid Cohen.
