The departure of Dan Bongino had seemed inevitable since August, when the White House hired Missouri's attorney general, Andrew Bailey, to share his job as deputy director.
Even adversaries of Jack Smith, the former special counsel, conceded that his tight-lipped, painstaking approach made tripping him up particularly difficult.
After viewing video of a follow-up strike, Republicans largely had confidence in the Pentagon's legal rationale while Democrats questioned its legality.
The main dark-money group backing Kamala Harris and Joe Biden raised a staggering $613 million last year, while its pro-Trump counterpart brought in $275 million, new filings show.
The Venezuelan government was said to have ordered the escort, according to two people familiar with the matter. It was not immediately clear whether the vessels were subject to U.S. sanctions.