Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on Friday briefed members of the House of Representatives following a tumultuous several weeks where Rosenstein was thrust into the spotlight following President Donald Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey.
Rosenstein briefed senators Thursday afternoon in a classified, closed-door meeting. Senators coming out of that meeting told reporters that Rosenstein said Trump made it clear that he planned to fire Comey before Rosenstein wrote a memo outlining issues with the former FBI director’s flouting Justice Department protocol. Members also said that the Justice Department’s Russia investigation is “now considered a criminal investigation.”
Rosenstein’s briefing also comes after the decision he made earlier this week to appoint former FBI Director Robert Mueller to be special counsel in the Justice Department’s probe of Russian meddling in the US election and any possible collusion between Moscow and Trump’s presidential campaign last year.