President Trump Donald John TrumpBiden leads Trump by 36 points nationally among Latinos: poll Trump dismisses climate change role in fires, says Newsom needs to manage forest better Jimmy Kimmel hits Trump for rallies while hosting Emmy Awards MORE on Wednesday launched a new attack on Attorney General Jeff Sessions Jefferson (Jeff) Beauregard SessionsGOP set to release controversial Biden report Trump's policies on refugees are as simple as ABCs Ocasio-Cortez, Velázquez call for convention to decide Puerto Rico status MORE, calling it "disgraceful" that he has asked an inspector general and not Justice Department lawyers to investigate potential surveillance abuses.

The president said the Justice Department’s inspector general is ill-equipped to probe allegations that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) was improperly used to monitor members of his transition team.

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“Why is A.G. Jeff Sessions asking the Inspector General to investigate potentially massive FISA abuse,” Trump tweeted.

“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!”

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

The dust-up comes one day after the attorney general announced his department’s internal watchdog would look into Trump’s claims that Obama administration officials misused their surveillance powers to track his associates following the 2016 presidential race.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters Tuesday she believed Trump “certainly supports the decision to look into what we feel to be some wrongdoing.”

“I think that's the role of the Department of Justice, and we're glad that they're fulfilling that job,” she said.

Sessions defended himself later Wednesday, saying the inspector-general investigation is "the appropriate process that will ensure complaints against the department will be fully and fairly acted upon if necessary."

"As long as I am attorney general, I 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," he said in a statement, which did not mention Trump by name.

Michael Horowitz, the Justice Department inspector general, was confirmed to his position during the Obama administration in 2012.

But he also received political appointments under President George W. Bush and is seen by people who know him as an independent voice.

Updated at 1:43 p.m.