Jeff Sessions resigns as attorney general ‘at Trump’s request’

US attorney general Jeff Sessions has resigned as the country’s chief law enforcement officer.

He announced his resignation in a letter to President Donald Trump and said it came at “your request”.

The decision to leave his post comes after Mr Sessions endured more than a year of blistering and personal attacks over his recusal from the investigation into ties between Russia and Mr Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

Mr Trump announced the resignation in a tweet and tweeted separately that he was naming Mr Sessions’ chief of staff Matthew Whitaker, a former United States attorney from Iowa, as acting attorney general.

The resignation was the culmination of a toxic relationship that frayed just weeks into Mr Sessions’ tumultuous tenure, when he stepped aside from the investigation into potential co-ordination between the president’s campaign and Russia.

Mr Trump blamed the decision for opening the door to the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller, who took over the Russia investigation and began examining whether Mr Trump’s hectoring of Mr Sessions was part of a broader effort to obstruct justice and stymie the probe.

The Justice Department did not announce a departure for deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein.