Jeff Sessions has been a "proverbial dead man walking for several months now," retiring Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., said during a Fox News appearance Wednesday night.
Sessions was pushed out Wednesday as the country's chief law enforcement officer after enduring more than a year of attacks from President Donald Trump over his recusal from the Russia probe.
"It was gonna happen," Gowdy told Fox News host Bret Baier on "Special Report." "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."
Sessions had recused himself from special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The investigation had been overseen by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, but the Department of Justice said Wednesday that Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker would take over that role.
Gowdy said Wednesday he did not think anything was going to happen to Rosenstein until the Mueller probe was finalized.
"He is overseeing the Mueller probe right now," he said. "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.