Did Sessions quit or did Trump fire him? Mueller's fate may hang in balance

U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller could challenge the appointment of Matt Whitaker as acting attorney general by saying that his predecessor, Jeff Sessions, didn’t leave voluntarily but was forced out by the president, a former federal prosecutor said.

President Donald Trump promoted Whitaker to run the department after Sessions submitted a resignation letter Wednesday at Trump’s request. Although Sessions had recused himself from the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 campaign, Whitaker will now assume oversight of the investigation, a duty that had fallen to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

But Mueller could argue in court that Trump effectively