Rod Rosenstein—the deputy attorney general who appointed the special counsel to investigate ties between Russia and the Trump campaign—will step down by mid-March, according to a Justice Department official. It was reported last month that Rosenstein was planning to quit after the new attorney general, William Barr—who was was confirmed by the Senate last week—took office. The DoJ official said Rosenstein’s departure was unrelated to allegations from former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe that Rosenstein seriously considered wearing a wire in confidential meetings with Trump and discussed using the 25th Amendment to remove the president from office after he fired James Comey in 2017.