This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Donald Trump has once again lashed out at his attorney general, tweeting that he found a plan by Jeff Sessions to use his department’s internal watchdog to review alleged surveillance abuses by intelligence teams “DISGRACEFUL!”

Sessions announced on Tuesday that the Department of Justice’s inspector general, its internal watchdog, would investigate allegations that the FBI and the Department of Justice abused Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (Fisa) procedures to spy on a Trump campaign adviser.

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“We believe the Department of Justice must adhere to the highest standards in the Fisa court, and, yes, it will be investigated … The inspector general will take that as one of the matters he’ll deal with,” Sessions told reporters during a press briefing.

On Wednesday morning, Trump attacked Sessions with a convoluted tweet.

“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!” Trump wrote.

Q&A What is the Nunes memo? Show Hide The memo was written by aides to Devin Nunes, chairman of the House intelligence committee and a member of the Trump transition team. The committee is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election but the inquiry has devolved into a fight about the ​separate FBI investigation​, now​ led by special counsel Robert Mueller​. On Friday, Nunes published the memo after Donald Trump declassified it. The memo revolves around a wiretap on Carter Page, an adviser to the Trump campaign, alleging the FBI omitted key information when it applied for the wiretap. The findings “raise concerns with the legitimacy and legality of certain DoJ and FBI interactions” with the court that approves surveillance requests, the memo says. It also claims “a troubling breakdown of legal processes established to protect the American people from abuses”. The memo criticizes investigators who applied for the wiretap, saying they used material provided by an ex-British agent, Christopher Steele, without sufficiently disclosing their source. The memo says Steele was “desperate that Trump not get elected”. The memo also says texts between an FBI agent and FBI attorney “demonstrated a clear bias against Trump” and says there is “no evidence of any co-operation or conspiracy between Page” and another Trump aide under investigation, George Papadopoulos. The memo casts deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein in a negative light. ​Rosenstein could fire Mueller. The president, said to dislike Rosenstein, could fire and replace him. The FBI ​argued against the memo’s release. Democrats wrote a rebuttal and sided with the bureau. ​The president reportedly told associates he believes the memo will help discredit the special counsel. Alan Yuhas

The DoJ inspector general is Michael Horowitz, appointed under the Obama administration in 2012. The DoJ typically expects to operate without interference from the White House.

Sessions said on Wednesday afternoon he would do his job with “integrity and honor”.

Members of the House intelligence committee have been warring over allegations by Republicans, crystallized in a memo controversially released by committee chairman Devin Nunes, that the DoJ and FBI submitted misleading information when applying for Fisa warrants to surveil former Trump campaign aide Carter Page, who has links to Russia.

Horowitz’s team is already investigating the former FBI director James Comey’s handling during the presidential election of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while secretary of state.

Sessions, without mentioning the president, later issued a statement, saying: “We have initiated the appropriate process that will ensure complaints against this Department will be fully and fairly acted upon if necessary. As long as I am the 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.”