Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein plans to leave the Trump administration in the coming weeks, according to multiple reports on Wednesday.
Rosenstein has told President Trump that he will leave the Justice Department after the expected confirmation of William Barr as attorney general.
According to ABC News, and other news outlets that reported Rosenstein’s impending departure, he is not being forced out of his job. Speculation has swirled for months and months that Trump would fire Rosenstein, who has overseen the special counsel’s Russia investigation since Robert Mueller’s appointment on May 17, 2017.
Rosenstein, who oversaw the Russia probe because of the recusal of Jeff Sessions, has had several close calls during his tenure, which began on April 25, 2017 after his Senate confirmation.
A former U.S. attorney, Rosenstein expected to be fired back in September 2018 after a report surfaced that he offered to wear a wire during conversations with Trump. That claim came from Andrew McCabe, who served as deputy director of the FBI at the time the May 2017 conversation allegedly took place. But Rosenstein disputed McCabe’s characterization of the conversation. He said that he was being sarcastic when he offered to spy on Trump.
It is not clear who Trump will nominate to fill Rosenstein’s position.
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