Trey Gowdy: Sessions was ‘dead man walking for several months’

Retiring Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) said Wednesday that Jeff Sessions was a “dead man walking for several months” before he resigned earlier Wednesday from his post as attorney general.

“[The resignation] was gonna happen. I knew it was gonna happen after the election. I did not think it would happen before all the votes had been counted, but he’s been a proverbial dead man walking for several months now,” Gowdy said on Fox News. 

.@TGowdySC on Jeff Sessions resigning: “It was going to happen…He’s been a proverbial dead man walking for several months now.” #SpecialReport https://t.co/SfA26v0ock pic.twitter.com/mszTX8VAr7

— Fox News (@FoxNews) November 7, 2018

Sessions resigned Wednesday at President Trump’s request, a move that followed significant speculation that he would leave the Justice Department sometime after the midterms.

Democrats expressed concern Wednesday that Sessions’ forced resignation would be the first in a series of steps by Trump to limit or end special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Sessions had recused himself of involvement in the investigation, which has been overseen by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. The Department of Justice said Wednesday that newly-appointed Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker would take over the role of overseeing the investigation.

But Gowdy said during his interview on Fox News that he doesn’t think “anything is going to happen” to Rosenstein until Mueller is finished with his probe. 

“He is overseeing the Mueller probe right now. I don’t think anything is going to happen to Rod [Rosenstein] until after Mueller finishes his investigation. And then what happens after that will be between the president and Rod,” he said.