Rod Rosenstein explains Special Counsel appointments at Senate hearing

Former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein tells the Senate Judiciary Committee at a review of the FBI Crossfire Hurricane investigation that while serving, many federal agents and prosecutors were working on criminal cases that officials consider potentially relevant to 2016 election meddling by Russia and he was concerned the public might not have confidence after FBI director Jim Comey departed and the acting FBI director may not be the right person to lead it so he decided to appoint a Special Counsel is the best way to complete the investigation appropriately but as later known, the eventual conclusions were that Russians committed crime seeking to influence the election and Americans did not conspire with them, but his appointment was consistent with precedent such as in the 1990s by then attorneys general Bill Barr and Janet Reno with some degree of independence to best resolve sensitive matters.