Rod Rosenstein Submits Resignation

Rod Rosenstein Image by Win McNamee/Getty Images
(JTA) — Deputy U.S. Attorney General Rod Rosenstein submitted his resignation letter to President Donald Trump.
His last day in office will be May 11. He had said in January that he would step down when a new attorney general was confirmed. William Barr was confirmed in February
Rosenstein appointed Robert Mueller as special counsel to look into Russian interference in the 2016 elections and was a key player in overseeing the probe that President Donald Trump called a “witch hunt.” He made the appointment in May 2017 following the recusal of then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions from all campaign-related investigations and oversaw much of his work.
Rosenstein decided to stay on for the completion of Mueller’s investigation. The Mueller report was submitted on March 22, and released earlier this month publicly in a redacted form.
Rosenstein has come under fire from all sides for his role: Trump was furious with Rosenstein for appointing Mueller, and the president’s allies in Congress at one point sought Rosenstein’s impeachment. More recently, liberals lambasted him for standing by at a press conference while Attorney General William Barr delivered an assessment of the Mueller report that, upon the report’s release, was revealed to be selectively framed to favor Trump.
In his resignation letter, Rosenstein alluded to the pressures. “We enforce the law without fear or favor because credible evidence is not partisan, and truth is not determined by opinion polls,” Rosenstein wrote. “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.”
Trump in February named Jeffrey A. Rosen to replace Rosenstein. He must be confirmed to the post.
The Deputy Attorney General is responsible for overseeing the daily operations of the Justice Department and the work of United States attorneys across the country.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
- 1
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 2
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 3
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
- 4
Culture How two Jewish names — Kohen and Mira — are dividing red and blue states
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward ‘Another Jewish warrior’: Fine wins special election for U.S. House seat
-
Fast Forward A Chicagoan wanted to protest Elon Musk — and put a swastika sticker on a Jewish man’s Tesla
-
Fast Forward NY attorney general orders car wash to stop ripping off Jews with antisemitic ‘Passover special’
-
Fast Forward Cory Booker proclaims, ‘Hineni’ — I am here — 19 hours into anti-Trump Senate speech
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.