Rod Jay Rosenstein (; born January 13, 1965) is an American attorney who served as the 37th United States deputy attorney general from April 2017 until May 2019. Prior to his appointment, he served as a United States attorney for the District of Maryland. At the time of his confirmation as deputy attorney general in April 2017, he was the longest-serving U.S. attorney. Rosenstein had also been nominated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in 2007, but his nomination was never considered by the U.S. Senate. President Donald Trump nominated Rosenstein to serve as Deputy Attorney General on February 1, 2017. Rosenstein was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on April 25, 2017. In May 2017, he authored a memo that President Trump cited as the basis for his decision to dismiss FBI Director James Comey. In May 2018, Rosenstein reportedly told the five U.S. Attorneys in districts along the border with Mexico that, where refugees were concerned, they should not "be categorically declining immigration prosecutions of adults in family units because of the age of a child." The directive, issued as part of the Trump administration family separation policy, led to the separation of thousands of small children from their parents, many of whom were seeking asylum in the United States after fleeing violence in Central America. Following the recusal of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Comey's dismissal, Rosenstein appointed Robert Mueller as special counsel to investigate alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 elections and related matters. Rosenstein previously assumed authority over the parallel FBI probe after Sessions recused himself over misleading remarks he made to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary during his confirmation process. The New York Times reported Rosenstein prevented the FBI and Mueller from investigating Trump's personal and financial dealings in Russia. On November 7, 2018, Trump transferred this oversight to acting US Attorney General Matthew Whitaker. Rosenstein submitted his resignation as deputy attorney general on April 29, 2019, which took effect on May 11, 2019. Rosenstein joined the law firm King & Spalding's D.C. office as a partner on the "Special Matters and Government Investigations" team in January 2020. Early life and education Rosenstein was born in 1965 to an Ashkenazi Jewish family in Philadelphia. His father, Robert, ran a small business, whilst his mother, Gerri Rosenstein, was a bookkeeper and local school board president.