Sessions’ rebuttal of Trump: ‘Integrity and honor’
WASHINGTON — Criticized yet again by his boss, Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Wednesday pushed back against President Donald Trump for saying Sessions’ response to Republican complaints about the FBI was “disgraceful.”
Sessions gave no suggestion he would step down because of the charge made on Twitter and insisted he would “continue to discharge my duties with integrity and honor.”
Trump’s latest tirade stems from a comment Sessions made Tuesday, when he suggested the Justice Department’s inspector general will evaluate whether prosecutors and FBI agents wrongly obtained a warrant under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to monitor the communications of a onetime Trump campaign associate.
Trump tweeted: “Why is A.G. Jeff Sessions asking the Inspector General to investigate potentially massive FISA abuse. 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!”
Sessions answered hours later, saying his department had taken the appropriate step and “will continue to do its work in a fair and impartial manner according to the law and Constitution.”
Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s office has acknowledged receiving Sessions’ request but hasn’t said it is investigating. Horowitz was appointed to the post by President Barack Obama. But years earlier, Horowitz was named in the Bush administration to a seat on the Sentencing Commission.
Horowitz also launched the review of the FBI’S handling of the Clinton case.
GOP Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, recently one of the FBI’S toughest critics, defended Horowitz as “fair, fact-centric and appropriately confidential with his work.”