AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee
Rod Rosenstein.
- Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein plans to leave the Department of Justice after a permanent replacement for former Attorney General Jeff Sessions is confirmed by the Senate, multiple
news outlets reported Wednesday. Rosenstein is currently overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election, which Trump decries as a "rigged witch hunt" against him.
- NBC's Pete Williams reported that he intends to stay in his current position until Mueller submits his final report on his investigation to the DOJ.
- Legal experts and DOJ veterans said Rosenstein's departure does not necessarily put the Mueller probe in danger.
Multiple news outlets reported Tuesday that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein plans to leave the Department of Justice after a new attorney general to replace Jeff Sessions is confirmed by the Senate.
Rosenstein, who previously served as a US Attorney from Maryland, became a target of hardline Republicans in Congress and President Donald Trump for his work overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Read more: All the times Rod Rosenstein was publicly criticized by Trump, and all the times he hit back
Some observers feared that Rosenstein's departure could spell danger for the Mueller probe. William Barr, the Trump administration's nominee to replace Sessions as attorney general, recently sent an unprompted letter to the DOJ laying out his concerns with the legality some aspects of the Mueller investigation.
But DOJ veterans and legal experts aren't concerned that Rosenstein's departure combined with Barr's skepticism of some aspects of the Mueller probe mean Mueller is in danger. Here's what they said: