Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein not fired after all

UPDATE: Reuters reports that the Axios report mentioned below is wrong, and that Rosenstein is not yet out. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders confirmed on Twitter:

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosentein expects to be fired today at the White House, according to reports, though Axios reports that he "verbally resigned" in a call with White House Chief of Staff John Kelly.

Axios:

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has verbally resigned to Chief of Staff John Kelly in anticipation of being fired by President Trump, according to a source with direct knowledge. Per a second source with direct knowledge: Hes expecting to be fired, so he plans to step down.

The Hill:

CNN, Bloomberg and The Washington Post quickly confirmed this report.

NBC reported that Rosenstein was refusing to resign by his own volition, saying President Trump had to fire him.

Rosenstein's departure follows a story in The New York Times reporting that he suggested secretly recording the President and discussed invoking the 25th Amendment to remove him from office.

Rosenstein supervised Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian efforts to influence Donald Trump's election campaign, to the president's constant annoyance. Aides reportedly tried to prevent Trump firing him in the immediate aftermath of the Times' report, lest it unleash yet more political chaos in the run up to November's mid-term congressional elections.

What happens next? FiveThirtyEight speculates:

There are several ways this could play out. One is that Trump might pressure Rosensteins replacement to curtail the Russia investigation.