U.S. Embattled Attorney General Jeff Sessions resigned at the "request" of President Donald Trump after more than a year of public criticism from the president.
Trump announced that Sessions' chief of staff, Matthew Whitaker, will serve as acting attorney general.
Whitaker also will assume oversight of the ongoing investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, and possible collusion by Trump's campaign in that meddling, according to the Justice Department.
Whitaker, who has publicly criticized the Mueller investigation, by law can serve as acting AG for a maximum of 210 days, CNBC reported.
Trump's press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said the White House received a resignation letter from Sessions earlier Wednesday and Trump accepted it.
Sessions' letter to Trump, which is not dated, begins by saying, "At your request, I am submitting my resignation."
