Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America reporter

The presidential axe that had been hovering over Jeff Sessions for what has seemed like an eternity just came swinging down with a thud. Donald Trump had previously said he would wait until after the mid-term elections to decide his attorney general's fate, and he did - but just barely.

And like that the duties of overseeing Robert Mueller's Russia investigation shift from the man who appointed the special counsel, Rod Rosenstein, to a man who has been a critic of it, Department of Justice Chief-of-Staff Matthew Whitaker.

In an opinion piece for The Hill , externalbefore he took the Department of Justice chief of staff job, Mr Whitaker wrote that calls for an as yet-to-be-named independent prosecutor would be "just craven attempts to score cheap political points".

In April 2007, he wrote for CNN that any Mueller investigation into the president's finances would be would be "going too far"., external

What happens next is critical. Mr Mueller's inquiry could continue unabated - although the special counsel must surely be considering tightening his timeline. There is also the possibility, however, that this is just the opening move of a White House effort to shut down the probe or keep its findings out of the public eye.

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman points out that Jeff Session's resignation letter is apparently not dated.

Ann Coulter, conservative commentator and author, has called on Trump to make the now-deposed Sessions head of Homeland Security.

Her comments, however, seem to ignore the fact that Sessions was fired.

Top Democrat Chuck Schumer says it looks like Trump has something to hide.

In a series of tweets, Schumer called on Whitaker - the new acting attorney general - to recuse himself from the Mueller investigation over his previous critical comments about the inquiry.

US media report that White House chief of staff John Kelly called Sessions this morning, ahead of the president's news conference, and asked for his resignation on behalf of Trump.

In an opinion piece for CNN in August 2017, , externalMatthew Whitaker said Robert Mueller would be crossing a line if he investigated Donald Trump's family's finances.

"Mueller has come up to a red line in the Russia 2016 election-meddling investigation that he is dangerously close to crossing," Mr Whitaker wrote.

The now acting attorney general was a legal commentator for CNN at the time.

Lindsey Graham said on Twitter that Sessions "served our nation well and honorably as Attorney General".

But he did not criticise the president's decision to oust him.

Image source, Reuters

“I thank Jeff Sessions for his dedicated service as Attorney General," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement.

"Throughout his career, as a prosecutor, a Senator and as Attorney General, he remained steadfast in his commitment to the rule of law and his love of our great nation. I wish him well and look forward to working with him in any future endeavours.”

In the summer of 2017, Jeff Sessions offered to resign after a heated discussion with President Trump, saying he would do so if the president no longer wanted him in his administration.

He remained in office, but the acrimony only grew between Trump and Sessions over the past 15 months. Here's a look back on how those relations soured last year.

Democrat Jerry Nadler - who could become the House Judiciary Committee chairman - was quick to demand answers about why Sessions was fired.

Chief of Staff at the Justice Department Matthew Whitaker will become the acting attorney general - the top law enforcement official in the US.

Whitaker served as US attorney for the Southern District of Iowa from 2004-2009 after being appointed by President George W Bush.

During an unsuccessful campaign to become a senator in 2014, the former Iowa football player emphasised his conservative values, saying he would look for judicial nominees with "a biblical view of justice", according to the New York Times., external

He wrote a column for CNN, external two months before joining the justice department arguing that if Mueller's Russia inquiry began investigating Trump or his family, it "would raise serious concerns that the special counsel’s investigation was a mere witch hunt".

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Reuters

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) executive director Anthony Romero said in a statement that Jeff Sessions was "the worst attorney general in modern American history".

"Sessions allowed the Department of Justice to function as the political arm of the Trump administration to undo fundamental rights that protect each of us, disregarding years of legal precedent and settled law."

Romero added that dismissing the nation's top law enforcement official "should not be done to protect the president or his cronies from the law".

“We will be keeping a close watch on the future of the special counsel’s investigation and the impact of the appointment of a new Attorney General. The Senate must demand that any nominee for attorney general must commit to not interfere in the special counsel investigation, and continue to have Robert Mueller operate under the special counsel regulation.”

Recently, Lindsey Graham has been a very vocal supporter of President Trump.

But last year, amid reports that Sessions had offered to resign, he warned that there would be "holy hell to pay" if the president fired Jeff Sessions.

The Republican senator has yet to react to the news.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has been informed of Sessions' firing during a news conference on the mid-term election results. He warned of how Sessions' ousting could affect the Mueller probe.

If you need a refresher on the special counsel and the investigation, click here.

Image source, Reuters

The Trump-Sessions feud began when Sessions, an early supporter of Trump's campaign, stepped aside from the Justice Department inquiry into alleged Russian interference in the US presidential election to avoid a potential conflict of interest.

He handed control of the inquiry to his deputy, Rod Rosenstein.

That decision and the ongoing progress of the inquiry under special counsel Robert Mueller - which is also reportedly now looking into whether Trump has attempted to obstruct justice - have provoked frequent outbursts from the president, both in person and on his Twitter feed.

Read the full story here.

Jeff Sessions' resignation letter makes it clear that he's resigning at the request of President Trump.

Image source, Department of Justice

Trump announced in a tweet that Jeff Sessions is out.

He thanked him for his service and announced that Matthew Whitaker, Chief of Staff at the Department of Justice, will be the new acting attorney general.

The move comes after months of tensions between the president and the nation's top prosecutor.

Responding to a question about what she thought of President Trump's support of her speakership, Pelosi said: "I don't think anybody deserves anything."

"It's not about what you've done. It's about what you can do."

She added that she thinks she's the "best person to go forward to unify, to negotiate".

"In winning this election, not only were we on the right side of history, we were on the right side of the future," says the Democratic Congresswoman from California.

"This is where we have to go."

She also vowed to work with Trump on infrastructure spending, and quoted a speech by Republican President Ronald Reagan.

She added that since the results came in, she has already spoken with senior Republicans Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, and President Trump.