Rachel Brand, the third-ranking official at the Justice Department, decided to leave her post in part because she wanted to avoid any possibility that she would have to oversee the federal Russia investigation, NBC News reported on Monday.
NBC News reported, citing unnamed sources close to Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand, that Brand was also frustrated by continuing vacancies at the Justice Department.
President Donald Trump has reportedly grown increasingly frustrated with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the Justice Department official who oversees special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, and has privately contemplated terminating Rosenstein.
According to NBC News, Brand was concerned that Trump would fire Rosenstein and leave her in charge of overseeing Mueller’s probe, a highly visible position that Brand did not want.
The Justice Department on Friday announced that Brand will leave the Justice Department in the next few weeks, and Walmart announced that she will take an executive job at the corporation. According to NBC News, her move to the private sector has been in the works for “some time.”
