Chaffetz: ‘Mind-boggling’ that Trump would call out his own AG

Former Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) said that it was “mind-boggling” that President Trump on Wednesday again attacked his attorney general.

Chaffetz, who resigned from Congress last year, said on Fox News on Wednesday that Attorney General Jeff Sessions “is a Trump guy.”

“He’s the one who nominated him, he’s the one who appointed him,” Chaffetz, the former House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman, said of Trump’s relationship with Sessions.

{mosads}

“I’ve said for months, I don’t think Attorney General Sessions is up to the job. I think he should leave that job,” Chaffetz continued. “But I think it’s almost embarrassing that the president would tweet this instead of communicate directly with his attorney general.”

Trump had targeted Sessions in a tweet earlier Wednesday over Sessions’s request for the Justice Department’s inspector general to investigate the FBI’s potential abuse of surveillance warrants.

“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,” Trump tweeted. “Isn’t the I.G. an Obama guy? Why not use Justice Department lawyers? DISGRACEFUL!”

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!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 28, 2018

Sessions pushed back against the criticism in statement later Wednesday, saying he would “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.”