Associate Deputy Attorney General Scott Schools, the Justice Department's most senior career attorney and a key figure in helping manage special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, is leaving for a job in the private sector, according to Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Sources, however, confirmed to CNN that Schools was not forced out, but instead had a unique opportunity in the private sector.
"Scott has provided invaluable leadership and counsel in his years at the Department, and his service is an example to all," Sessions said in a statement Tuesday afternoon, reports CNN. "He will be greatly missed, and I wish him the best in his future endeavors."
Schools' last day will be on Friday. He works under Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, and as the highest-ranking career officer is the key advisor on some of the department's most sensitive matters, including when former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was fired.
Schools and Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Ed O'Callaghan have met with Mueller's special counsel team every other week, CNN reports.
Justice Department attorney Bradley Weinsheimer, who has 27 years of DOJ experience, is to replace Schools as an acting associate deputy, but will not be overseeing Mueller, a department news release said.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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