Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein reportedly convinced Trump not to fire him after a damming New York Times article implicated him in a plan to secretly record the president, The Washington Post reports. Rosenstein allegedly denied the Times’ reporting, and argued that the president needed to keep him so that the Mueller Report, which Rosenstein oversaw, maintained credibility. “I give the investigation credibility,” Rosenstein allegedly said, according to one administration official. “I can land the plane.” Rosenstein responded to the characterization by stating: “The only commitment I made to President Trump about the Russia investigation is the same commitment I made to the Congress: so long as I was in charge, it would be conducted appropriately and as expeditiously as possible.”

As the Justice Department’s second-in-command, Rosenstein has walked a narrowing tightrope in an effort to keep his job. The deputy attorney general has repeatedly appeased a disgruntled president, while simultaneously protecting the special counsel’s investigation. Rosenstein’s balancing act has come under renewed scrutiny since the redacted release of the Mueller Report left many Democratic lawmakers demanding more. “I did pledge to do it right and take it to the appropriate conclusion,” Rosenstein recently said of the report. “I did not promise to report all results to the public.”