*By Kristen Lee*
Attorney General Jeff Sessions abruptly resigned at President Trump's request on Wednesday, ending a tenure marked by a series of public humiliations inflicted by the man who elevated him into the nation's highest law-enforcement position.
After enjoying Sessions' early support on the campaign trail, Trump turned against his AG in March 2017 after he recused himself from a probe into Russia's interference in the 2016 election. Since Sessions stepped aside, Trump has frequently railed against his attorney general in public.
"I don't have an attorney general. It's very sad," Trump said during a scathing interview with Hill.TV in September. The president previously said he would not have named Sessions to head the Justice Department had he known the AG would recuse himself from the Russia probe.
Sessions' job security has long been in question. At a post-election press conference earlier on Wednesday, Trump had declined to answer a question about Sessions' future in his administration.
“I’d rather answer that at a little bit different time," Trump had said.
In a tweet on Wednesday afternoon, Trump said Sessions' chief of staff Matthew Whitaker will step in as acting attorney general.
"We thank Attorney General Jeff Sessions for his service, and wish him well! A permanent replacement will be named at a later date," Trump said.
In a formal letter to Trump, Sessions noted that he was submitting his resignation at the president's request. He said he was proud that he and Trump "restored and upheld the rule of law" during his time in office.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen pledged that the U.S. and its allies wouldn't hesitate to use their sanctions powers to address Iran's "malign and destabilizing activity” in the region.
Author of 'Clean Meat,' Paul Shapiro joins Cheddar to discuss how the cellular agricultural revolution helps lower rates of foodborne illness and greatly improves environmental sustainability. Plus, how his company The Better Meat Co. is bringing healthier food options to the table.
The Biden administration is docking more than $2 million in payments to student loan servicers that failed to send billing statements on time after the end of a pandemic payment freeze.
The law, signed by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, prohibits people from carrying concealed guns in 26 places including public parks and playgrounds, churches, banks and zoos.
About 4 in 10 U.S. adults named foreign policy topics when asked to share up to five issues for the government to work on in the next year, about twice as many compared to the previous year's AP-NORC poll.
