Former Trump Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on Wednesday offered lawmakers a limited defense of the Russia investigation he oversaw, as he came under increasing criticism from Republicans.

Former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein testified Wednesday that he would not have signed a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant renewal for former Trump campaign aide Carter Page had he known about the since-revealed misconduct surrounding those warrants -- while faulting the FBI for its handling of the documents.

Rosenstein confirmed that he signed a FISA warrant renewal application for Page, during a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee where he was the first witness as part of the panel’s fresh investigation into the origins of the Russia probe.

The former deputy attorney general Rod J. Rosenstein defended during congressional testimony on Wednesday his decision to appoint a special counsel for the Trump-Russia investigation, as Republican allies of President Trump sought to keep a skeptical spotlight on the inquiry heading into the November election.

Newly-released portions of a Justice Department memo show then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein authorized Robert Mueller to take the Russia probe beyond its original scope.

Rosenstein's first directive to Mueller in a May 2017 memo instructed Mueller to investigate links between the Russian government and people associated with the Trump campaign.

Rod Rosenstein didn’t waste any time since stepping down as deputy attorney general to open up about his time at the Justice Department, which included a biting criticism of the FBI’s ex-director, James Comey.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein submitted his resignation Monday, ending a nearly two-year run defined by his appointment of a special counsel to investigate connections between President Donald Trump's campaign and Russia. His last day will be May 11.

Rosenstein's departure had been expected since the confirmation of William Barr as attorney general. The White House nominated a replacement for the department's No. 2 slot weeks ago.

Deputy attorney general rebuts Democrats’ suggestions that William Barr is trying to mislead

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein defended the Justice Department’s handling of the special counsel’s still-secret report, saying Attorney General William Barr is “being as forthcoming as he can” about his process for redacting and releasing the roughly 400-page document.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein called the pushback to Attorney General William Barr's actions surrounding the Russia report "bizarre," saying in a new interview that Barr is doing all he can to follow the law and make as much of the report public as possible.

"He's being as forthcoming as he can, and so this notion that he's trying to mislead people, I think is just completely bizarre," Rosenstein told The Wall Street Journal.

Liberals thought deputy attorney general was their Trump-slayer, conservatives once wanted him impeached.

For nearly two years, Democrats figured Rod Rosenstein was their man in the Mueller investigation. They fought vehemently to keep him from being fired. They even went to court to try to make him acting attorney general.

Republicans, meanwhile, were so furious with the deputy attorney general that some drew up articles of impeachment last year.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has reached an agreement with Attorney General William Barr to stay on at the Justice Department “a little while longer,” a source familiar with their conversation told Fox News – despite initial plans to step down by now.