(WASHINGTON) — Former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is defending his decision to appoint a special counsel to scrutinize ties between Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Russia, telling senators Wednesday that he thought it was the best way to complete the investigation appropriately and ensure public confidence in its conclusions. Rosenstein was appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee at the first in a series of oversight hearings that coincide with accelerated election-year efforts to review the FBI’s Russia investigation. Republican allies of the president have taken fresh aim in recent months at that investigation and at the law enforcement and intelligence officials who conducted it.