Top career official at Justice Department stepping down

CNN/Stylemagazine.com Newswire | 7/3/2018, 12:17 p.m.
The Justice Department's senior-most career attorney, Associate Deputy Attorney General Scott Schools, is planning to step down for a job …
Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Ed O'Callaghan, left, and Associate Deputy Attorney General Scott Schools, center, are seen in this undated image.

By Laura Jarrett, CNN

(CNN) -- The Justice Department's senior-most career attorney, Associate Deputy Attorney General Scott Schools, is planning to step down for a job in the private sector, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Schools works under Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and has had a significant role helping manage special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.

NPR previously reported his departure.

As the highest-ranking career official, Schools has served as a key adviser on many sensitive matters within the department, including the firing of former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and document production issues with Capitol Hill. Two other sources confirmed to CNN that Schools was not forced out of the department, but rather received a unique opportunity.

Late last month, CNN observed Schools leaving Mueller's office. He, along with Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Ed O'Callaghan, have been meeting with the special counsel team every other week.

Another attorney at the department, Bradley Weinsheimer, is expected to replace Schools at least temporarily, but CNN is told he will not oversee Mueller's work.

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