Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein was interviewed by special counsel Robert Mueller's office regarding President Trump's ousting of former FBI Director James Comey, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

The office questioned Rosenstein in June or July, after Comey was apparently fired for losing President Trump's faith in his handling of the probe into possible ties b, according to the Journal.

Rosenstein is now overseeing the Russia investigation after Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself. The deputy attorney general has the final authority over Mueller, who was named special counsel after Comey's firing.

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Rosenstein authored the White House memorandum that announced Trump's decision to fire Comey, citing his poor handling of the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonJeff Flake: Republicans 'should hold the same position' on SCOTUS vacancy as 2016 Momentum growing among Republicans for Supreme Court vote before Election Day Warning signs flash for Lindsey Graham in South Carolina MORE's use of a private email server.

In June, Rosenstein told colleagues in private that he thought he must recuse himself from the investigation as well.

Trump has called the investigation a "phony Russian Witch Hunt" and has accused Democrats of trying to undermine the legitimacy of his election through the investigation.

The special counsel is investigating whether Trump obstructed justice by firing Comey, which Comey claimed during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing had come after Trump urged him to back off of the investigation into Michael Flynn.

Flynn, a former national security adviser to the president, was fired for misleading Vice President Pence and other senior officials about contacts he had with Russia's ambassador to the U.S.

Mueller's office declined to comment to the Journal.