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Chaffetz knocks Sessions: He’s ‘the attorney general in name only’

by Joe Concha - 05/30/18 11:33 AM ET

Fox News contributor Jason Chaffetz renewed his criticism of Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Wednesday, calling him “worthless” and an “attorney general in name only.”

The former GOP congressman made the comments on Fox News’s “America’s Newsroom” after President Trump criticized his attorney general again on Twitter, saying he wished he picked another person for the job.

“Does Jeff Sessions have a target back on him again or not?” Fox News co-anchor Bill Hemmer asked Chaffetz.

{mosads}

“Jeff Sessions is the attorney general in name only. He is worthless,” Chaffetz replied. “The sooner the president names a new attorney general the better.”

“He should never have recused himself. He didn’t need to in a counterintelligence operation,” Chaffetz added.

The former Utah lawmaker has long criticized Sessions, calling for him to be ousted earlier this year.

Chaffetz’s latest comments came after Trump quoted Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), who noted that Trump was frustrated by Sessions’s decision to recuse himself in the federal probe into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election. The president wrote that he wished he had picked another person for attorney general.

Rep.Trey Gowdy, “I don’t think so, I think what the President is doing is expressing frustration that Attorney General Sessions should have shared these reasons for recusal before he took the job, not afterward. If I were the President and I picked someone to be the country’s….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2018

….chief law enforcement officer, and they told me later, ‘oh by the way I’m not going to be able to participate in the most important case in the office, I would be frustrated too…and that’s how I read that – Senator Sessions, why didn’t you tell me before I picked you…..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2018

….There are lots of really good lawyers in the country, he could have picked somebody else!” And I wish I did!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2018

During an appearance on “CBS This Morning” on Wednesday, Gowdy weighed in on a New York Times report that said special counsel Robert Mueller was investigating an interaction between Trump and Sessions at Mar-a-Lago last year.

Trump reportedly told Sessions in March 2017 to reverse his decision to recuse himself in the Russia probe. Sessions refused, spurring months of public criticism from Trump.

Tags Donald Trump Jason Chaffetz Jeff Sessions Robert Mueller Trey Gowdy