Jeff Sessions, the president’s earliest and most fervent supporter in Congress, stepped down as attorney general Wednesday after brutal criticism from the president, bringing an abrupt end to his controversial tenure as the nation’s top law enforcement officer.

Sessions, 71, lasted not quite two years in the job. But in that brief period, the former Alabama senator managed to usher in a new era at the Justice Department.

Sessions threatened so-called sanctuary cities with the loss of federal funding and announced a “zero tolerance policy” for people who cross the southern U.S. border illegally.

He decried a looming wave of violent crime across the country, even though criminologists maintain murders and assaults remain near historic lows in most places.

The US President announced an interim replacement tweeting: “We are pleased to announce that Matthew G. Whitaker, Chief of Staff to Attorney General Jeff Sessions at the Department of Justice, will become our new Acting Attorney General of the United States. He will serve our Country well….”

more at npr.org