US President Donald Trump has launched a fresh attack against his attorney general, calling Jeff Sessions' decision to have the Justice Department inspector general - and not prosecutors - investigate alleged surveillance abuse "disgraceful".
Trump lashed out against Sessions on Twitter on Wednesday for assigning the probe of alleged government surveillance abuse to Inspector General Michael Horowitz and not to prosecutors.
Key Republican lawmakers baulked at the president's latest breach of the principle that holds that the Justice Department and the judiciary should be independent of the White House.
"Why is A.G. Sessions asking the Inspector General to investigate massive FISA abuse," Trump wrote, referring to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which regulates government monitoring of the communications of suspected foreign agents.
"Will take forever, has no prosecutorial power and already late with reports on Comey, etc.," Trump continued. "Isn't the IG an Obama guy? Why not use Justice Department lawyers? Disgraceful."
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
Horowitz was sworn into his post in April 2012 during the Obama administration.
Trump has violated the principle of preserving judicial and prosecutorial independence numerous times, for example by promising to have his 2016 presidential opponent Hillary Clinton investigated and criticising court decisions on his immigration policy.
Representative Peter King, a Republican member of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, criticised Trump for attacking Sessions.
"Not to incur the president's wrath, but I wouldn't do that. Jeff Sessions is loyal to the president," King told Fox News.
Trey Gowdy, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, defended Sessions' decision to refer the matter to Horowitz.
Horowitz "has been fair, fact-centric and appropriately confidential with his work", Gowdy said in a statement. "I have complete confidence in him."
Trump has previously attacked Sessions, mostly notably for recusing himself from the Justice Department investigation, headed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, into whether there was collusion between Russia and Trump's 2016 presidential election campaign.
Trump has repeatedly denied there was any collusion and Russia has said it did not meddle in the election, contradicting the assessment of senior US security officials.
The president's latest attack on Sessions came a day after Sessions said that he was referring to Horowitz the allegations of FISA surveillance abuses by the Republican chairman of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, Devin Nunes.
