WASHINGTON — Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein Monday quipped about his newfound notoriety now that he’s caught in the crosshairs of President Trump’s outrage about the Russia probe.
Without mentioning the latest drama with the president explicitly, Rosenstein told a ballroom full of corporate compliance officers that the job of deputy attorney general was supposed to be “very low profile.”
Speaking at the Mayflower Hotel, Rosenstein mentioned the storied history of the downtown DC hotel, which has a restaurant named for former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, who was a regular lunch patron.
“Sometimes onlookers would reportedly recognize Hoover when he was here and… hotel staff would sneak him out through the kitchen and out the back door,” Rosenstein told the Compliance Week conference.
“When I got this job, I remember being grateful that I would not have to worry about that sort of thing,” Rosenstein said to laughs.
Rosenstein’s remarks come a day after Trump ordered the Justice Department on Twitter to launch an investigation into whether the FBI or Justice Department “infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes.”
Rosenstein responded by asking the Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz to expand his ongoing probe.
“If anyone did infiltrate or surveil participants in a presidential campaign for inappropriate purposes, we need to know about it and take appropriate action,” Rosenstein said in a statement Sunday.
Meanwhile, Trump’s Freedom Caucus allies in the House have stepped up the pressure to oust Rosenstein, just as the Russia probe is closing in on the White House.
Rosenstein has oversight of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation since Attorney General Jeff Session recused himself from the Russia probe.
During his talk Monday, Rosenstein urged corporate compliance officers to “stay vigilant.” He stayed on topic, aside from one political remark to shame the US Senate for holding up the confirmation of four of his Department of Justice staffers.
“I’m very honored to be here, but I wish there were more Senate-confirmed appointees in the Department of Justice … to give speeches and carry out our important work,” Rosenstein said.
“I expected to delegate some of these events to those outstanding nominees.”
At the end of his talk, Rosenstein was whisked out of the hotel and took no questions from reporters.



