US Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein steps down
Washington: US Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Special Counsel Robert Mueller to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, submitted his resignation letter to the White House.
His resignation will come into effect from May 11, reports CNN.
“We enforce the law without fear or favour because credible evidence is not partisan, and truth is not determined by opinion polls,” Rosenstein wrote in the letter he submitted on Monday.
“We ignore fleeting distractions and focus our attention on the things that matter, because a republic that endures is not governed by the news cycle.
“We keep the faith, we follow the rules, and we always put America first,” he added.
Rosenstein, who was appointed the Deputy Attorney General on April 26, 2017, went to the White House on Monday and personally delivered his resignation letter to the President, according to an administration official.
Rosenstein often found himself as President Donald Trump’s target, especially after hiring Mueller in 2017.
Shortly after being confirmed as Deputy Attorney General, Rosenstein wrote a memo criticising former FBI Director James Comey amid his investigation into Russia’s 2016 actions, which Trump used as part of his reasoning in firing Comey.
After Comey was fired, Rosenstein brought Mueller in as Special Counsel to continue the investigation, and Mueller also looked at the question of obstruction of justice.
In the days after Trump fired Comey, Rosenstein discussed wearing a “wire” to record conversations with the President and recruiting Cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.
Earlier this month Rosenstein defended his handling of the Russia investigation and recalled during his Senate confirmation hearing that he had promised to “do it right” and “take it to the appropriate conclusion”.
Rosenstein’s resignation comes after Attorney General William Barr released a redacted version of Mueller’s report earlier this month which raised fresh questions about Rosenstein’s role as both witness in and supervisor of the investigation into possible obstruction of justice by Trump.
The redacted version of Mueller’s report released disclosed a previously unknown episode where Rosenstein resisted Trump’s efforts to get him to take the blame for firing Comey.