The departure of Attorney General Jeff Sessions could mean that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will no longer oversee the Russia investigation.
As NBC News' Pete Williams pointed out, the attorney general — or acting attorney general, in the case of Sessions' temporary successor Matt Whitaker — is in charge of supervising any special counsel probe within the Department of Justice.
Sessions recused himself from special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation because he played a role on the Trump campaign. If Whitaker is ruled not to have any conflicts of interest as they relate to the Russia probe, he could very well begin overseeing Mueller's investigation.
Rosenstein's future at the DOJ is not clear, but Trump has been hard on the department's No. 2 official this year regarding all aspects of the Russia investigation, which began in May 2017 over allegations that the Trump campaign may have colluded with Russia.
Trump said Whitaker, Sessions' chief of staff, will serve as acting attorney general until a permanent replacement is confirmed.
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