Rod Rosenstein, the US deputy attorney general who oversaw the special counsel inquiry into President Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia, has resigned.
Mr Rosenstein, who had a fraught working relationship with Mr Trump, will step down on 11 May in a departure that had been expected for months.
In his letter, he paid tribute to Mr Trump, even praising the president’s “courtesy and humour”.
Mr Trump once tweeted an image showing Mr Rosenstein jailed for treason.
Mr Rosenstein – who was originally appointed by Republican President George W Bush – had been expected to resign in March following the appointment of William Barr as attorney general.
But the justice department second-in-command stayed in the job a while longer to help Mr Barr manage a redacted public release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
The report cleared the Trump campaign of conspiring with Russia to sway the 2016 election, but did not exonerate the president of obstruction of justice.
