Rod Rosenstein, the U.S. deputy attorney general who raised the possibility of removing President Donald Trump in 2017, is expected to step down by mid-March, a Justice Department official said on Monday.

This comes days after former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe said in an interview on Sunday that Rosenstein raised the idea of wearing a wire in meetings with Trump and invoking the 25th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to remove the president from office.

The deputy attorney general was definitely very concerned about the president, about his capacity and about his intent at that point in time, McCabe said.

File photo of former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe. /VCG Photo

However, the Justice official who confirmed Rosenstein's current thinking said that the timing was not related to McCabe's revelations.

Rosenstein, the No. 2 official at the Justice Department, in May 2017 named Special Counsel Robert Mueller to investigate ties between Trump's 2016 presidential election campaign and Moscow. The investigation continues.

The new deputy attorney general could be announced as early as this week.

(CGTN)