Robert Mueller's deputy special counsel is expected to leave soon, the latest sign that the bulk of Mueller's work may be over. | Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images Mueller Investigation Top Mueller deputy stepping down from special counsel's office

Special counsel Robert Mueller's top deputy is leaving his post, adding to speculation that Mueller's office is winding down its work.

Deputy special counsel Andrew Weissmann, who oversaw Mueller's high-profile case against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, is expected to leave the office soon, Mueller spokesman Peter Carr confirmed.


"Andrew Weissmann will be concluding his detail to the Special Counsel's Office in the near future,” he said in an email, declining to comment further.

Weissmann is expected to take a teaching post at New York University this fall, according to a source familiar with the move.

The personnel move, first reported by NPR, is the latest sign that the bulk of Mueller's work may be over.

Mueller’s team, slowly shrinking over the last year, has been down to 12 prosecutors since December. At its peak, the special counsel's office had 17 lawyers plus Mueller himself investigating Russian interference in the 2016 elections.

Earlier this month, David Archer, the senior FBI agent overseeing the law enforcement agency's work for Mueller's team, took up a post as head of the FBI's Richmond, Va., office.

Manafort's second sentencing Wednesday drew an unusually large crowd of prosecutors and investigators — about 30 in all. The massive presence might have signaled that many involved in the probe wanted to see what could be one of the final public steps in Mueller's probe.

Several other cases filed by Mueller's office remain pending, but in nearly all of them, Mueller's team has lined up other, permanent prosecutors from the Justice Department