US Official Overseeing Russia Probe Expected to Quit Post - Reports

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the US official overseeing the Russia probe, is expected to resign from his post in the coming weeks, ABC News reported on Wednesday.

Rosenstein has informed President Donald Trump and the White House that he intends to step down whenever William Barr, Trump's nominee for the position of attorney general, takes office after being confirmed by the Senate, ABC News reported, citing multiple officials familiar with the matter.

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When asked about the report, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told Fox News that the president was not trying to force Rosenstein to quit, though she refused to either confirm or deny that the deputy attorney general intends to leave.

"I know the deputy attorney general has always planned to roughly stay around two years. My guess is that he is making room for the new attorney general to build a team that he wants around him," Sanders said.

Rosenstein has been overseeing Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 US election, accusations that Moscow has repeatedly denied.

Russian officials have said the allegations were invented to excuse the election loss of a presidential candidate, as well as deflect public attention from actual instances of election fraud and corruption.