Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he will continue to do his job with “integrity and honor” following a tweet from President Trump calling him “disgraceful.”
“We have initiated the appropriate process that will ensure complaints against this Department will be fully and fairly acted upon if necessary,” Sessions said in a statement after the president criticized the attorney general’s decision to have an internal watchdog look into surveillance abuses.
“As long as I am the Attorney General, I will continue to discharge my duties with integrity and honor, and this Department will continue to do its work in a fair and impartial manner according to the law and Constitution.”
Earlier in the day, Trump ripped Sessions in a tweet for not getting department lawyers to look into alleged abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act against his transition team, and instead asked the Office of Inspector General to do so. Trump implied the IG might be biased, and can’t do anything regardless of what it finds.
“Why is A.G. Jeff Sessions asking the Inspector General to investigate potentially massive FISA abuse,” Trump wrote. “Will take forever, has no prosecutorial power and already late with reports on Comey etc. Isn’t the I.G. an Obama guy? Why not use Justice Department lawyers? DISGRACEFUL!”
A source familiar with the situation said Sessions’ comment was in direct response to Trump’s tweet.
A spokesperson for the inspector general’s office acknowledged Tuesday that the referral had been received. The current inspector general, Michael Horowitz was appointed by former President Barack Obama, and took office in early 2012.
Horowitz is also reviewing the FBI and Justice Department’s handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server, and that report is due out this spring.
Rep. Trey Gowdy, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, defended Horowitz’s impartially.
“I have had a number of interactions with Inspector General Horowitz, including as recently as earlier this month. He has been fair, fact centric, and appropriately confidential with his work,” he said in a statement. “He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate without a single dissent. I have complete confidence in him and hope he is given the time, the resources and the independence to complete his work.”
