Trump dodges question about firing Mueller and Rosenstein: 'They're still here'

Donald Trump.
(Image credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

When asked about the status of Special Counsel Robert Mueller and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and whether he plans on firing them, President Trump would only say the press has been reporting that "I'm going to get rid of them for the last three months, four months, five months, and they're still there."

Trump spoke to reporters Wednesday evening during a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and he fielded the question about Rosenstein and Mueller after discussing tariffs and North Korea. He called the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election "a very bad thing for our country" and "a hoax." There "was no collusion," he continued, adding that he's ordered his attorneys to be "transparent" and believes they have given Mueller's team more than a million documents. The investigation, he said, is "hopefully coming to an end." Watch the entire press conference below. Catherine Garcia

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.