Much was missing from Trump's press conference, such as answers

It was a rare event. On Wednesday, President Trump held his first full press conference on American soil since the first weeks of his administration last year.

Like his earlier foray into the jaws of the media, the event consisted of Trump speaking about a wide array of topics for nearly an hour-and-a-half. It was a throwback to Trump’s days on the campaign trail where he regularly made marathon appearances in front of the media and in his signature rallies. But his responses left much unanswered.

Trump’s appearance took place in a plush ballroom at Manhattan’s Palace Hotel, not far from the United Nations where he addressed the General Assembly on Tuesday. But foreign policy and his meetings with world leaders weren’t the top items on the agenda.

The press conference came amid cascading allegations of sexual assault against Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, and two days after a slew of conflicting reports about the status of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who is overseeing the Justice Department’s Russia probe. By various accounts Rosenstein was on the verge of either resigning or being fired, but as of Wednesday evening he was still in his job. Both of these major developments seemed poised to come to a head on Thursday with Kavanaugh and one of his accusers scheduled to testify on Capitol Hill and Rosenstein heading to the White House for a meeting with Trump.

In the very first question of the presser, Trump was asked for his assessment of the accusations against Kavanaugh. He dismissed them as a “big fat con job” and reiterated his support for the nominee. Trump was then asked a question he’d dodged at the United Nations earlier in the day, does he believe the three women who have come forward and publicly accused Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct are all lying?

“I won’t get into that game,” Trump replied. “I’m going to see what happens tomorrow.”

Throughout the press conference reporters tried multiple variations on the theme, but Trump’s answers didn’t become any more illuminating. The president delivered long answers that obfuscated the fact that although he professed an open mind, he was prejudging the allegations by framing them as a “con” by Democrats. Trump acknowledged the litany of sexual assault allegations that had been made against him during the campaign, and suggested the experience showed him some alleged victims launch false charges, but he repeatedly stopped short of definitively explaining his position on L’Affaire Kavanaugh. Ultimately, Trump settled on a noncommittal intention to watch the testimony on Thursday and reserve the right to withdraw his support for Kavanaugh, “if I [think] he’s guilty.”

On Rosenstein, Trump was similarly evasive. The rumors the deputy attorney general was set to leave his job were sparked by a New York Times story that said Rosenstein discussed secretly taping the president and using the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office. Even before this story, Rosenstein and the special counsel investigation into Moscow’s intervention in the 2016 presidential race had drawn Trump’s ire. The president, who has vehemently denied his campaign cooperated with the Russians has repeatedly referred to the probe as a “witch hunt.” Trump repeated that characterization at the press conference, but he paradoxically indicated he would “certainly prefer” to keep Rosenstein on the job. In the end, Trump offered no clear answer on Rosenstein and, in fact, said he might even postpone the meeting that was expected to settle his fate until after the Kavanaugh drama.