Trump postpones meeting with embattled deputy attorney general: White House

President Donald Trump has postponed a meeting where he is expected to decide on whether to keep the deputy attorney general in charge of the Russia collusion probe in his job, the White House said Thursday.

"The president spoke with Rod Rosenstein a few minutes ago and they plan to meet next week," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said.

A meeting had been expected Thursday, but Sanders said Trump did not want to interfere with the Senate hearings into his nominee for the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh.

Rosenstein's position in the politically sensitive post has been in doubt since sensational press reports that he secretly discussed wearing a wire to record Trump to gather evidence in a push to remove the president from office on grounds of incompetence.

Rosenstein has denied the reports, but throughout the week rumours swirled that he would resign or be fired -- a step that would then throw the Russia collusion probe into doubt.

Rosenstein and the Kavanaugh confirmation process -- which risks being derailed by a series of sexual assault allegations from his school and college years -- present Trump with two of the most politically explosive crises of his presidency.