Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said Thursday that his time in law enforcement was “coming to an end.”
“My time as a law enforcement official is coming to an end, a lot later than I expected,” the No. 2 official at the Department of Justice (DOJ) said during a lecture at the University of Pennsylvania. “People joke about the revolving door between government and the private sector. The door never revolved for me. It was one way in, and one way out.”
On Monday, multiple news outlets reported that Rosenstein is expected to leave DOJ in mid-March.
{mosads}President Trump announced Tuesday that he would nominate Jeffrey Rosen to replace Rosenstein as the Justice Department’s second in command. Bloomberg News reported the same day that new Attorney General William Barr chose Rosen as his deputy.
Rosenstein, who after the firing of FBI Director James Comey appointed special counsel Robert Mueller to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election, has often been at odds with Trump.
Rosenstein oversaw Mueller’s probe following the recusal of former Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
The president on Monday blasted Rosenstein and former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe after McCabe told “60 Minutes” that Rosenstein once discussed using the 25th Amendment to remove Trump.
“He and Rod Rosenstein, who was hired by Jeff Sessions (another beauty), look like they were planning a very illegal act, and got caught,” Trump tweeted.
Rosenstein addressed his detractors in the speech on Thursday, which was first reported by Bloomberg.
“I took more than my fair share of criticism. But I kept the faith, I followed the rules, and I left my office in good hands,” he said.