Rep. Trey Gowdy (R., S.C.) said Tuesday on Fox News that President Donald Trump's tweets seem to put Attorney General Jeff Sessions in a precarious position.
Gowdy said that Sessions made the right decision to recuse himself from the Russia investigation but that he could have communicated better with the president. Trump tweeted Monday that Sessions is "beleaguered" and criticized him the following day for being "weak" on investigating Hillary Clinton and intelligence leakers. Gowdy said that those statements do not help Sessions.
"It doesn't look great," the lawmaker said when host Bill Hemmer asked if Sessions is in trouble. "I have not talked to him about it. The tweets are not helpful for long-term employment. That is between him and the president."
"Jeff Sessions made the right decision in recusing himself, and I also understand the president's frustration at the decisions and actions that Attorney General Sessions [made] that led him having to recuse himself," Gowdy added. "That is where my focus is: The president is frustrated that he picked an attorney general that had to recuse himself."
"The recusal was based on the attorney general's failure to recall some meetings," the congressman said. "So that's what the recusal was based on. The recusal was appropriate, but I do understand the president's frustration."
Hemmer asked if it would have been appropriate for Sessions to tell Trump he would need to recuse himself, and Gowdy answered, "Sure, absolutely."
"All of us who have applied for jobs get asked that question: 'Is there anything in your background that I should know about?'" the South Carolina Republican added.
Gowdy said that Sessions would have done well to tell the president about his meetings with the Russian ambassador during the 2016 campaign. He said that it is more useful to have these conversations immediately but that Sessions has had to recall them later.
"The attorney general forgot about some of these contacts; that's what led to the recusal," Gowdy said. "It's his bad memory."