U.S. progressive groups staged hundreds of protests nationwide on Thursday evening to demand that President Trump do nothing to hinder an ongoing investigation into his campaign and Russian meddling during the 2016 U.S. election.

The protests, operating under the banner “Nobody Is Above the Law” and led by the activist group MoveOn, called for people to gather in cities at 5 p.m. on Thursday in an effort to protect the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller.

The action was spurred by Trump’s move on Wednesday to replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions with Sessions’s chief of staff, Matt Whitaker, as acting attorney general. Sessions had recused himself from overseeing the Russia investigation, while Whitaker has called for it to be scaled down.

Trump announced the move the day after a Congressional election that saw his Republicans lose control of the House of Representatives but gain seats in the Senate. (Reuters)

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