Attorney General Jeff Sessions resigned at the request of President Trump on Wednesday, immediately placing oversight of the special counsel’s Russia probe in the hands of an official who has been critical of the inquiry and suggested limiting it.

The move—one day after elections in which Republicans lost control of the House of Representatives but made gains in the Senate—follows months in which Mr. Trump regularly expressed displeasure with Mr. Sessions for recusing himself from the inquiry into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election. Mr. Trump has described the nation’s top law enforcement officer as “DISGRACEFUL!”

Mr. Sessions made it clear in his resignation letter that Mr. Trump had asked him to step down, saying he was submitting his resignation “at your request.” The undated letter was written Wednesday, a Justice Department spokeswoman said.

In a tweet announcing Mr. Sessions’ departure, Mr. Trump said Matthew Whitaker, Mr. Sessions’ top aide, would become acting attorney general. “We thank Attorney General Jeff Sessions for his service, and wish him well!” Mr. Trump said.

White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, not Mr. Trump, called Mr. Sessions and sought the resignation letter, an administration official said.


Mr. Whitaker, a former federal prosecutor and conservative legal advocate, can serve in an acting capacity for 210 days, or longer under certain circumstances. Mr. Trump isn’t expected to keep him on as a permanent successor, one Trump adviser said.

Justice Department officials said Mr. Whitaker is assuming oversight of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of any possible links between Moscow and the Trump campaign, unless the department’s ethics attorneys advise that he recuse himself. The Russia investigation has been overseen by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

Before coming to the Justice Department, Mr. Whitaker had urged that the inquiry’s scope be limited, saying that otherwise it could start to look like a “political fishing expedition.” It is unclear if such comments would require recusal.

President Trump responds to questions regarding the Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 elections, saying "I could have ended it anytime I wanted." Photo: AP

Democrats seized on the changes at the top of the Justice Department, saying it was an example of Mr. Trump trying to interfere in the Mueller inquiry. “It is impossible to read Attorney General Sessions’ firing as anything other than another blatant attempt by @realDonaldTrump to undermine & end Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation,” tweeted Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader who is poised to regain the speaker’s gavel.


Democrats also raised concerns about Mr. Whitaker’s past comments and urged him to recuse himself.

In August 2017, after FBI agents raided former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s home, Mr. Whitaker tweeted: “Do we want our Gov’t to ‘intimidate’ us?” and linked to a Fox News story that said the raid was “designed to intimidate.” The same month, he tweeted a Philly.com column titled “Note to Trump’s lawyer: Do not cooperate with Mueller lynch mob,” and added: “Worth a read.”

In July 2017, Mr. Whitaker played down the notion that there was anything improper in a meeting at Trump Tower between Trump campaign officials and Russian individuals. “You would always take that meeting,” Mr. Whitaker said on CNN. He also told the network that if Mr. Sessions were replaced with an acting attorney general, he could imagine a scenario in which that person reduced Mr. Mueller’s budget “so low that his investigations grinds to almost a halt.”

Mr. Mueller’s inquiry has resulted in guilty pleas from a series of Trump campaign aides, primarily for lying to investigators or financial crimes, and the indictment of two dozen Russian nationals. His investigators also have been homing in on whether several conservative political figures knew in advance about WikiLeaks’ planned release of thousands of hacked Democratic emails in the 2016 campaign.


Mr. Whitaker also has longstanding ties to a former Trump associate who has been interviewed by Mr. Mueller’s investigators, Sam Clovis, who served as a foreign-policy adviser on the 2016 Trump campaign. Mr. Whitaker in 2014 chaired Mr. Clovis’s campaign for state treasurer in Iowa. Asked if their friendship would pose any conflict of interest, Mr. Clovis said in a text message, “Absolutely not. He will do his duties in accordance with the law.”

Some Republicans also raised questions about Mr. Sessions’ departure. “I’m concerned Rod Rosenstein will no longer be overseeing the probe,” tweeted Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine). “Special Counsel Mueller must be allowed to complete his work without interference—regardless of who is AG.” Mitt Romney, elected U.S. senator from Utah on Tuesday, also called for Mr. Mueller’s investigation to be “unimpeded.”

Wednesday’s fast-moving developments likely bring to an end a lengthy public career in which Mr. Sessions served as a top law-enforcement official in Alabama, a longtime GOP senator and U.S. attorney general, which he had described as a dream job. The monthslong stretch in which the president fired insults and attacks at his top law-enforcement official has no precedent in recent memory, according to longtime Justice Department watchers.

In his resignation letter, Mr. Sessions told Mr. Trump that his team had “embraced” the president’s “directive to be a law and order Department of Justice” and prosecuted “the largest number of violent offenders and firearm defendants in our country’s history.”


Mr. Trump has long wanted to replace Mr. Sessions, but was told by advisers earlier this year it would be difficult to confirm a replacement given Republicans’ thin 51-49 margin in the Senate, according to a former aide. With Republicans poised to expand their majority in the chamber following Tuesday’s elections, a new attorney general’s path to nomination could be easier.

Among the candidates the White House is considering to succeed Mr. Sessions are Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who has a longstanding relationship with the president, according to people familiar with the matter. Aides have also discussed the possibility of nominating Rudy Giuliani, the president’s lawyer, to the job, though that would come with a host of complications, the people said. Mr. Giuliani, who is representing Mr. Trump in the Mueller investigation, is given to colorful comments, and some senators would likely put up a strong resistance to his nomination.

The Wall Street Journal has previously reported that Mr. Trump was also considering candidates including Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, Transportation Department general counsel Steven Bradbury and former Attorney General Bill Barr.

In private talks with his advisers, cursory references to Mr. Sessions or the Mueller investigation often set the president off, former aides said. Mr. Trump routinely vented that he didn’t believe Mr. Sessions was “as tough as he thought he was” and was “too weak to handle the big job.”

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At an election-night party with friends and advisers on Tuesday evening, Mr. Trump made no mention of his plans to ask for the resignation the following day, according to an adviser. But Mr. Sessions and his associates were aware that the move was coming soon after the midterms.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, had previously warned there would be “holy hell to pay” if Mr. Trump fired Mr. Sessions. But on Wednesday, he began looking ahead to the confirmation process for a new attorney general, which could be fiery given the contentious issues surrounding the Justice Department and Mueller investigation.

“I look forward to working with President Trump to find a confirmable, worthy successor so that we can start a new chapter at the Department of Justice,” Mr. Graham said.

—Peter Nicholas

and Shelby Holliday contributed to this article.

Write to Aruna Viswanatha at Aruna.Viswanatha@wsj.com, Sadie Gurman at sadie.gurman@wsj.com and Rebecca Ballhaus at Rebecca.Ballhaus@wsj.com