Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein wrote in a letter released Tuesday that FBI Director James Comey mishandled the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server and that the Bureau wouldn’t regain public trust until it had a director who acknowledged those mistakes. “The current FBI director is an articulate and persuasive speaker about leadership and the immutable principles of the Department of Justice,” Rosenstein wrote in the letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, released after Comey’s shock firing by President Trump. “He deserves our appreciation for his public service. As you and I have discussed, however, I cannot defend the director’s handling of the conclusion of the investigation of Secretary Clinton’s emails, and I do not understand the refusal to accept the nearly universal judgment that he was mistaken. Almost everyone agrees that the director made serious mistakes; it is one of the few issues that unites people of diverse perspectives.” Sessions recommended to Trump that he terminate Comey based on Rosenstein’s memo.