Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on Monday praised special counsel Robert Mueller for his handling of the Russia probe and said that there is no “justification at this point” to fire him, despite reports that the President wanted to terminate him this summer.
“The special counsel is not an unguided missile,” Rosenstein told USA Today on Monday. “I don’t believe there is any justification at this point for terminating the special counsel.”
He also expressed confidence in his own job status, despite President Donald Trump’s consistent criticism of the Justice Department and his Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Rosenstein was tasked with hiring Mueller to conduct the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election after Sessions recused himself over his contacts with Russian officials. That move has been the focal point of Trump’s ire against Sessions.
“I feel very confident in my ability to do the job,” he told USA Today. “In any political job, you recognize that your time is going to be limited. My goal is to get as much done for as long as I’m here in the job.”
He said when his “time is up” he’s “confident” he will be able to look back and be proud of the work he’s done.
Read the rest of the interview with USA Today here.
