Attorney General Jeff Sessions Resigns After Trump’s Request

Andrew Childers

6 years ago

Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Wednesday submitted his resignation to President Donald Trump, via a letter hand-delivered to White House Chief of Staff John Kelly. Sessions wrote that he was submitting his resignation at the president’s request. Sessions is the latest person to have resigned or been fired from the Trump Administration.

Trump installed Matt Whitaker, chief of staff at the Justice Department, as acting attorney general, now in charge of the Russia probe led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, according to a U.S. official, cited by Bloomberg. Whitaker, who has been a critic of the Russia probe, now has the power to fire Mueller or curb his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates. Live coverage of the breaking news is below.

Andrew Childers

Whitaker has suggested Mueller’s budget could be tightened to placate the president and he’s also argued on cable television that Trump should be cleared of wrongdoing for his decision to fire FBI Director James Comey in May 2017. https://t.co/1FnPf8IuV2 @politico
— Darren Samuelsohn (@dsamuelsohn) November 7, 2018

Andrew Childers

White House chief of staff John Kelly, not Trump, called Jeff Sessions to request his resignation, CNN and Bloomberg reporthttps://t.co/tkZTJ9qu9m
— Axios (@axios) November 7, 2018

Andrew Childers

Attorney General Jeff Sessions did not receive a phone call from President Trump, according to an administration official. CNN’s Laura Jarrett reports the call came from White House chief of staff John Kelly pic.twitter.com/COTYEly9fc
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) November 7, 2018

Andrew Childers

The new acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker in 2016: "I would indict Hillary Clinton." https://t.co/jinoNy9Ou1
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 7, 2018

Andrew Childers

BREAKING: With an acting attorney general taking over after AG Sessions’ ouster, Deputy AG Rosenstein will no longer oversee the Mueller investigation, @PeteWilliams reports. pic.twitter.com/ZET8CRFUCA
— NBC News (@NBCNews) November 7, 2018