US OFFICIAL WHO OVERSAW PROBE ON RUSSIA TO LEAVE OFFICE

WASHINGTON: Rod Rosenstein, the US justice department official who ordered the special counsel’s probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 elections that has dogged Donald Trump’s presidency, is reportedly leaving office next month.

The deputy attorney general had earlier said he would leave, but did not give a time. He was under attack from Trump, who had appointed him in the first place, for launching the probe.

The news came amid renewed allegations that he had wanted to secretly record conversations with Trump and had talked of invoking a constitutional provision that allows the cabinet to name the vice-president to take over from the president.

The White House, meanwhile, relaunched a search for a successor to Nikki Haley as US envoy to the UN after Heather Nauert withdrew from the race.