Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) said on Wednesday that he would not have criticized Attorney General Jeff Sessions they way President Trump did for asking an inspector general instead of Justice Department lawyers to investigate alleged surveillance abuses.
“I wouldn’t do that,” King told Fox News’s “America’s Newsroom”
“Jeff Sessions is loyal to the president and he’s one of the first to support him, and he’s often in very difficult positions and I think he’s trying to reconcile as best as he can.”
{mosads}He said that he has “great regard” for the attorney general and believes Sessions was right to open an investigation into the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant allegations.
King added, however, that he doesn’t see why the Justice Department can’t also carry out its own investigation.
“I do think that it would make sense to have parallel investigations go forward, but again, I would not publicly criticize Jeff Sessions because I know how loyal he is to the president.”
Trump earlier in the morning said the inspector general was not well equipped to handle a probe into allegations that FISA was improperly used to monitor Trump’s 2016 campaign team.
“Why is A.G. Jeff Sessions asking the Inspector General to investigate potentially massive FISA abuse,” Trump tweeted on Wednesday morning. “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!”
Trump’s tweet marks his latest attack against Sessions, whom Trump has repeatedly criticized for recusing himself from the Justice Department investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 elections that is now headed by special counsel Robert Mueller.
Republicans in the House Intelligence Committee, which King is a part of, have reportedly been investigating the Justice Department and the FBI over concerns that the agencies improperly used the Steele dossier that alleged ties between Russia and Trump.