Rep. Adam Schiff bluntly rejected President Donald Trump's assertion that he's got an "absolute right" to do what he wants with the Department of Justice — telling him, "No, you don't."

In a Friday tweet, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee pushed back on the president's reply to a New York Times query about whether he'd order the DOJ to reopen its probe of Hillary Clinton's private email server.

Trump: "I have absolute right to do what I want to do with the Justice Department."



No, you don't. You can do what you want with your golf courses. But the country and its Justice Department belong to the American people. https://t.co/60DFvIEMjk — Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) December 29, 2017

Trump, while declaring he had an "absolute right" to do what he wanted, added that "But for purposes of hopefully thinking I'm going to be treated fairly, I've stayed uninvolved with this particular matter."

Schiff has defended the work of congressional investigations of Russia's meddling in the presidential election, as well as the probe of special counsel Robert Mueller.

In his Times interview, Trump said it was "too bad" Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the investigation.