The Justice Department’s top leaders listened in stunned silence this month: One of their peers, they were told, had devised a plan with then-President Donald Trump to oust Jeffrey Rosen as acting attorney general.

Former House speaker Robert A. DeLeo, who resigned last month to pursue a job at his alma mater, Northeastern University, started a new role at the school this week, though details of the position remained unclear Friday.

An internal City Council memo obtained by the Globe raises questions about whether declared candidates for mayor — as well as City Council President Kim Janey, who will immediately serve as acting mayor following Mayor Martin J. Walsh’s departure — can vote on a home rule petition to nix a special election, which would normally be required under city law.