Rosenstein at center of controversy,

The Justice Department’s newly hired second-in-command found himself in the political spotlight Wednesday as the White House said he was the reason President Trump had fired FBI Director James Comey in the midst of an investigation into Russian meddling in the presidential election.

The administration pointed to a three-page memo by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein as the basis for the president’s decision late Tuesday to abruptly fire the head of the nation’s most prestigious law enforcement agency.

In it, Rosenstein delivered a sharp critique of Comey’s actions during the FBI’s probe of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, which he said violated long-standing Justice Department rules about not announcing its investigations, particularly in a case so intertwined with an ongoing presidential election. The FBI cannot regain public confidence, he wrote, “until it has a Director who understands the gravity of the mistakes and pledges never to repeat them.”

Rosenstein, 52, is a veteran federal prosecutor widely viewed by colleagues and outsiders as a straightforward and non-partisan lawyer, who had served under four presidents before Trump tapped him for the Justice Department’s No. 2 job. Rosenstein will also be the final word on the FBI’s investigation into possible ties between President Trump’s campaign and Russian intelligence services because Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the case.

Rosenstein was most recently the top federal prosecutor in Maryland, where he was charged with tackling drugs and violent crime in Baltimore, beset by a spike in shootings in recent years, and the fallout from the death of Freddie Gray in police custody in 2015. He was appointed to that job by President George W. Bush, and in an unusual move, President Barack Obama kept him on for the full length of his administration.

Hours before he was sworn in on April 26, Rosenstein stood in front of a poster-sized photograph of a 3-year-old girl slain by a stray bullet in Baltimore and announced his office’s indictment of alleged gang members tied to the shooting.

“If you’re part of a gang that’s involved in shootings,” he said, “we’re going to be coming after your entire gang.”

Lawyers who worked for Rodenstein described him Wednesday as independent and fair — precisely the qualities lawmakers and department officials had regularly ascribed to Comey.

Stefan Cassella, who retired in 2015 from a 30-year Justice Department career that included six years as the chief of one of the litigating sections in Rosenstein’s Maryland office, said he was “exactly the kind of person you wanted to support your efforts when you were a law enforcement officer.”

White House spokesman Sean Spicer had said late Tuesday that the basis for firing Comey was “all him,” referring to Rosenstein.

Deputy White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Rosenstein “absolutely” decided on his own to review Comey’s performance at the FBI after he took office. She said Rosenstein and Sessions recommended on Monday that Comey be fired, and Trump asked them to put that request in writing. Rosenstein’s memo was the result.

“He earned the respect of his staff through a constant application of independent and logical analysis that was above reproach,” said Shawn Thompson, who worked under Rosenstein in Maryland. “If Rod drafted a report, rest assured it was through the prism of impartiality and a truly objective assessment of the facts.”

White House pins firing of FBI director to his memo