U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions was finally pushed out after enduring nearly two years of criticism from President Donald Trump over the Russian interference probe and other matters.
Sessions, a former senator from Alabama, resigned at the president’s request, according to the New York Times.
Matthew Whitaker, who was Sessions’s chief of staff, will serve as acting attorney general until a new attorney general is nominated, Trump wrote in a tweet.
“We thank Attorney General Jeff Sessions for his service, and wish him well!” the president continued. “A permanent replacement will be nominated at a later date.”
Sessions, who endorsed Trump early on in the 2016 presidential campaign, recused himself from the Russia investigation, leaving the matter in the hands of Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general. Trump periodically lambasted Sessions in speeches and on Twitter over the recusal and his perceived disloyalty, at one time telling a reporter from the Hill, “I don’t have an attorney general. It’s very sad.”
It’s unclear what Sessions’s departure will mean for the ongoing election interference probe, led by special counsel Robert Mueller.
NEW: Sessions’ full resignation letter pic.twitter.com/q56vvZT5PS
— Betsy Woodruff (@woodruffbets) November 7, 2018
Recognize your brand’s excellence by applying to this year’s Brands That Matter Awards before the early-rate deadline, May 3.
_makes_opening_remarks_to_a_panel_of_Department_of_Homeland_Security_officials.jpg){kind=link}