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Don’t Believe Anonymously Sourced Reports, Justice Official Says

Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, testified this week at a Senate subcommittee hearing.Credit...Stephen Crowley/The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, encouraged Americans in a statement issued late Thursday to be “skeptical about anonymous allegations” after a string of recent news reports about the evolving focus of the special counsel’s investigation into Russia’s election interference and possible collusion with President Trump’s associates.

“Americans should exercise caution before accepting as true any stories attributed to anonymous ‘officials,’ particularly when they do not identify the country — let alone the branch or agency of government — with which the alleged sources supposedly are affiliated,” Mr. Rosenstein said in the statement.

He did not cite specific reports. The Justice Department released Mr. Rosenstein’s statement after 9 p.m., a few hours after The Washington Post reported that the special counsel was investigating the business dealings of Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law and adviser. That report was attributed to unnamed American officials.

Asked about the impetus for the statement, a Justice Department spokesman declined to comment. Mr. Rosenstein did not respond to an email seeking comment on Thursday night.

Mr. Rosenstein’s statement aligned with the president’s open frustration with unflattering leaks. Mr. Trump has called stories about the investigation “fake news” and complained on Twitter about a Washington Post report on Wednesday night that the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, was investigating the president himself for possible obstruction of justice. That story was also attributed to unnamed sources, as was a New York Times article that same evening about Mr. Mueller’s request for interviews with three top intelligence officials.

“Americans should be skeptical about anonymous allegations,” Mr. Rosenstein said in his statement. “The Department of Justice has a long-established policy to neither confirm nor deny such allegations.”

Mr. Rosenstein, whose by-the-book reputation was promoted by administration officials before he was confirmed in April as the nation’s second-ranking law enforcement officer, has become an unexpectedly prominent figure in the controversy swirling around the White House.

He appointed Mr. Mueller last month after Mr. Trump fired the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, and The Times reported that the president had asked Mr. Comey to end an investigation into his former national security adviser.

Mr. Trump has denounced the investigation as a “witch hunt” being “led by some very bad and conflicted people,” making accusations of bias against Mr. Mueller and his staff that have gained traction among the president’s supporters. Mr. Mueller, a former F.B.I. director, has served presidents of both parties.

Last month, Mr. Rosenstein wrote a two-page memo assessing Mr. Comey’s performance as F.B.I. director that served as the initial public justification for Mr. Trump’s decision to fire Mr. Comey. The president later shifted the rationale, declaring it his own decision, informed at least partly by Mr. Comey’s oversight of the Russia investigation.

Mr. Rosenstein, who has spent more than two decades at the Justice Department and has long had a reputation as an evenhanded prosecutor who shies away from the spotlight, has seen his reputation for impartiality tested, most recently on Wednesday.

In a pair of congressional budget hearings, lawmakers questioned Mr. Rosenstein about the Russia inquiry, which he is overseeing because Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself in March amid an outcry over Mr. Sessions’s previously undisclosed contacts with Russian officials.

Mr. Rosenstein assured lawmakers that he would not fire Mr. Mueller without “good cause” and that he would not allow political interference in the inquiry, which he promised would remain independent.

“I’m not going to follow any order unless I believe those are lawful and appropriate orders,” Mr. Rosenstein said Wednesday, responding to comments from a longtime friend of Mr. Trump that the president was considering firing Mr. Mueller. “Special counsel Mueller may be fired only for good cause, and I am required to put that cause in writing. That’s what I would do. If there were good cause, I would consider it.”

Mr. Rosenstein’s statement prompted strong and swift reaction. Preet Bharara — the former United States attorney for the Southern District of New York who was abruptly fired from that job by Mr. Trump this year — sent out a sarcastic rejoinder on Twitter.

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