Rosenstein heads to work\, future unclear

ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION) The ouster of Attorney General Jeff Sessions by President Donald Trump on Wednesday drew sharp criticism from Democrats, who warned Trump against moving to squash a probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

The probe, led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller under the supervision of the Justice Department, has clouded the Trump presidency.

The president had long complained about Sessions recusing himself from supervising Mueller.

Democrats raised concerns about Sessions' acting replacement, Matthew Whitaker, who now oversees Mueller and once argued Mueller's probe was going too far.

They also questioned whether the removal of the top U.S. law enforcement officer was an attempt to undermine or end the investigation.

Never in modern history has a president attacked a Cabinet member as frequently and harshly in public as Trump did Sessions, 71, who had been one of the first members of Congress to back his presidential campaign in 2015.

Trump was only a few weeks into his presidency in March 2017 when Sessions upset him by stepping aside from overseeing an FBI probe of potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow, citing news reports of previously undisclosed meetings he had with Russia's ambassador to Washington for his recusal.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein took over supervision of the Russia investigation.

He appointed Mueller in May 2017 as the Justice Department's special counsel to take control of the FBI's Russia probe after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey.