Jeff Sessions out as attorney general
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Embattled Attorney General Jeff Sessions was canned by President Trump on Wednesday — the first cabinet official to depart since Democrats won the House in Tuesday’s midterm elections.
“Dear Mr. President, at your request I am submitting my resignation,” Sessions said in his letter, The New York Times reported.
“Most importantly as my time as attorney general, we have restored and upheld the rule of law.”
Trump named an interim attorney general, and thanked Sessions on Twitter.
“We are pleased to announce that Matthew G. Whitaker, Chief of Staff to Attorney General Jeff Sessions at the Department of Justice, will become our new Acting Attorney General of the United States. He will serve our Country well,” the president wrote.
“We thank Attorney General Jeff Sessions for his service, and wish him well! A permanent replacement will be nominated at a later date.”
Sessions has been in the presidential doghouse since he recused himself from the Justice Department’s probe of Russian election interference and possible collusion with Trump’s campaign.
He had offered to step down before but his resignation had not been accepted.
The president has angrily berated the former Alabama senator both publicly and privately since then, saying that Sessions should have maintained oversight of the probein order to protect the administration from special counsel Robert Mueller, who is leading the Russia probe.
The move was expected to be the first in a White House shake-up that often follows the midterms.
Culled from NY Post