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Rod Rosenstein Expected to Leave Justice Dept. Once Attorney General Is Confirmed Rod Rosenstein Expected to Leave Justice Dept. Once Attorney General Is Confirmed
(35 minutes later)
WASHINGTON — Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general who had been overseeing the Russia investigation, is expected to leave the Justice Department after President Trump’s choice to run the department is confirmed, according to two administration officials.WASHINGTON — Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general who had been overseeing the Russia investigation, is expected to leave the Justice Department after President Trump’s choice to run the department is confirmed, according to two administration officials.
Mr. Rosenstein has been a central figure in the Russia investigation into election interference in 2016 — both by appointing a special counsel to take over the inquiry and for becoming a target of the president’s rage. He had always considered the deputy attorney general job as a two-year stint, one administration official said. Mr. Rosenstein has been a central figure in the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and any ties to the Trump campaign — both by appointing a special counsel to take over the inquiry and for becoming a target of the president’s rage. He had always considered the deputy attorney general job as a two-year stint, one administration official said.
Mr. Trump has nominated William P. Barr to be attorney general, after he fired his first attorney general, Jeff Sessions. Mr. Sessions recused himself from overseeing the Russia investigation in 2017, which is when Mr. Rosenstein stepped into that oversight role. His oversight lasted until the appointment of the interim attorney general, Matthew Whitaker, in November. Confirmation hearings for Mr. Barr are scheduled to begin on Jan. 15. Mr. Trump nominated William P. Barr to be attorney general, after he fired his first attorney general, Jeff Sessions. Mr. Sessions recused himself from overseeing the Russia investigation in 2017, which is when Mr. Rosenstein stepped into that oversight role. His oversight lasted until the appointment of the interim attorney general, Matthew Whitaker, in November. Confirmation hearings for Mr. Barr are scheduled to begin on Jan. 15.
Once it was clear that Mr. Sessions’s time at the department was running out, Mr. Rosenstein quietly supported replacing him with Mr. Barr, according to a person who has discussed the issue with Mr. Rosenstein. He and Mr. Barr previously worked together at the Justice Department during the George H.W. Bush administration.
Mr. Trump has been critical of Mr. Rosenstein, lashing out at him for approving an application to extend surveillance of a former Trump campaign associate.
And in September, after The New York Times reported that Mr. Rosenstein had previously made remarks about Mr. Trump’s fitness to be president and had offered to secretly record conversations with him, Mr. Rosenstein’s employment at the Justice Department appeared to be in jeopardy. At one point, Mr. Rosenstein, who denied the report, told senior White House officials that he wished to resign.
Though Mr. Trump chose not to fire Mr. Rosenstein at the time, the president would go on to suggest that Mr. Rosenstein was “totally conflicted” in his oversight role in the Mueller investigation.
In November on Twitter, Mr. Trump shared a meme of his political opponents pictured in a jail cell, and Mr. Rosenstein was portrayed next to Hillary Clinton.