Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on Tuesday declined to answer questions about the scope of Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ recusal from the Russian investigation, and whether that recusal should have kept him away from the decision to fire former FBI Director James Comey.
“I do not want to comment on the recusal,” Rosenstein said during questioning before a Senate panel on Tuesday.
Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., asked Rosenstein why, if Sessions had recused himself, did Sessions receive a memo from Rosenstein outlining his reasons why Comey should be fired.
“I don’t think that’s a question for me to answer,” Rosenstein said. He added that while the memo he wrote reflected his views about Comey, he couldn’t comment on anything further.
Rosenstein also said it would be up to Special Counsel Robert Mueller to decide whether this incident was something he would be looking at in his broad Russia investigation. But he said he could not comment any further because the investigation is ongoing.
“What I’m trying to explain is it would be inappropriate for me to do that because [Sessions] is recused from Department of Justice investigations and we don’t talk about investigations while they’re ongoing,” Rosenstein said, adding, “I know what we’re investigating. He does not.”
In March, Sessions recused himself from an investigations related to Russia and the 2016 presidential campaign after revelations that he met twice with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak during the 2016 presidential campaign.