Rod Jay Rosenstein (; born January 13, 1965) is an American attorney who served as United States Deputy Attorney General from April 26, 2017 to May 11, 2019.
Prior to his appointment, he served as a United States Attorney for the District of Maryland.
At the time of his confirmation as Deputy Attorney General in April 2017, he was the nation's longest-serving U.S.
Attorney.
Rosenstein had also been nominated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in 2007, but his nomination was never considered by the U.S.
Senate.President Donald Trump nominated Rosenstein to serve as Deputy Attorney General for the United States Department of Justice on February 1, 2017.
Rosenstein was confirmed by the U.S.
Senate on April 25, 2017.
In May 2017, he authored a memo that President Trump cited as the basis for his decision to dismiss FBI Director James Comey.Following the recusal of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Comey's dismissal, Rosenstein appointed Robert Mueller as special counsel to investigate alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 elections and related matters.
Rosenstein previously assumed authority over the parallel FBI probe after the recusal of former attorney general Jeff Sessions over misleading remarks he made to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary during his confirmation process.
On November 7, 2018, Trump transferred command of this oversight to acting US Attorney General Matthew Whitaker.
It was reported in January 2019 that Rosenstein was expected to resign in the first half of the calendar year.Rosenstein submitted his official resignation as Deputy Attorney General on April 29, 2019, which took effect on May 11, 2019.