Trump Calls Session “Disgraceful” for FISA Abuse Accusations

On Wednesday, President Trump called his own attorney general, Jeff Sessions, “disgraceful”. The reason for this open criticism was because Sessions suggested that the Justice Department’s watchdog would delve into potential accusations of abuse of surveillance laws instead of looking into the agency’s own lawyers.

His tweet yesterday wrote:

“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!”

Mr. Trump vehemently criticized Sessions’ remark and in effect belittled the role of the independent watchdog of the Justice Department. He insisted on the use of the lawyers of the agency itself, and urged the department to speed up their investigations and tasks.

This was not the first time President Trump has scolded Mr. Sessions’ decisions and barged in the investigations of Justice Department. Mr. Trump has consistently attempted to trespass the traditional checks and independence of powers and institutions and called for investigations into his personal political rivals. Mr. Sessions has been criticized by Mr. Trump for not being aggressive enough.

Sessions has been under President Trump’s attack consistently, despite being one of the earliest supporters of his election campaign. Sessions almost resigned, due to Trump’s pressure over his recusal, which had resulted in an independent special counsel to handle the investigations of Russia and Trump’s election campaign during 2016.

Mr. Sessions released a statement hours later Trump’s twitter outrage and defended the Justice Department. He said that as long as he is the attorney general, he 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.”

The Justice Department, however, has also been a target of concern and criticism in the past. Republicans have suspected the agency and the F.B.I. officials of abusing their powers. They have also accused them of surveilling Carter Page, a former Trump campaign aide while investigating the relationship between Russia and the presidential election. These accusations, laid out in a memo by House Intelligence Committee, have been rebuked by the Democrats on the panel.

Mr. Trump’s mention of the Inspector General, Michael E. Horowitz as the “Obama guy” also provoked great contention. He scolded him for prolonging the process of investigation, which was on the former FBI director’s handling of the inquiry of the private email server used by Hillary Clinton when she was the Secretary of State. Trump put into question Horowitz’s objectivity because he was appointed by former President Barack Obama.

However, Horowitz has his supporters. Representative Trey Gowdy of South Carolina and the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, vouched for Mr. Horowitz for being “fair, fact centric, and appropriately confidential with his work”. Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa and the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, also stood up for Horowitz, confirming the Senate’s approval of his appointment. This gesture was a show of support of both parties.

Mr. Horowitz’s investigation is projected to conclude this year and is expected to present some harsh findings about the Justice Department, as well as the FBI officials of the Obama administration. Then, we will have a better sense regarding Horowitz’s objectivity.

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