Disillusioned with Trump, acting DEA chief to leave

WASHINGTON — The acting head of the Drug Enforcement Administration will resign at the end of the week, according to law enforcement officials, who said he had become convinced that President Donald Trump had little respect for the law.

The official, Chuck Rosenberg, who twice served as chief of staff to former FBI Director James Comey, had grown disillusioned with Trump. The president fired Comey in May, and then in July told law enforcement officers “please don’t be too nice” when handling crime suspects.

Rosenberg forcefully rejected Trump’s comment, sending an email to all DEA employees at the time to tell them that they should not mistreat suspects.

Trump has injected the White House into law enforcement matters in ways that have made many career officials uncomfortable. The president spoke disparagingly about ongoing criminal investigations into his own associates, encouraged the Justice Department to investigate political rivals and said he would never have nominated Jeff Sessions to be attorney general if he had known Sessions would recuse himself from an investigation into his associates.

Rosenberg, appointed by President Barack Obama in 2015, is a career prosecutor. Under President George W. Bush, he served as the U.S. attorney in both southern Texas and eastern Virginia.

In late July, Rosenberg, told the deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, that he did not want to be considered as the permanent administrator of the DEA.

In a message to DEA employees Tuesday, Rosenberg said, “The neighborhoods in which we live are better for your commitment to the rule of law, dedication to the cause of justice and perseverance in the face of adversity.”