Jeff Sessions said he'd be open to bringing in outside help to investigate the Justice Department under President Barack Obama. | AP Photo Sessions open to using outside counsel to investigate DOJ under Holder, Lynch

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Thursday that he would be open to bringing in an outside counselor to investigate the practices of his Department of Justice predecessors under former President Barack Obama.

Sessions was asked about such an arrangement during an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, who suggested that Sessions might ask outside counsel to look into the department under Attorneys General Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch.


That counsel, Hewitt suggested, would have “authority to bring charges if underlying crimes were uncovered.” He pointed to controversies including alleged bias within the IRS against conservative political groups and the “Fast and Furious” scandal, in which the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives allowed guns to be sold illegally in the hopes of tracking them to Mexican drug cartels.

“Well, I’m going to do everything I possibly can to restore the independence and professionalism of the Department of Justice,” Sessions replied. “So we’ll have to consider whether or not some outside counsel is needed. Generally, a good review of that internally is the first step before any such decision is made.”

Although Sessions expressed an openness to an outside investigation into the Department of Justice, he and other officials from the administration of President Donald Trump have been resistant to calls for an outside investigation into ties between the Russian government and individuals close to the president.

Amid revelations that he met twice with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. during last year’s presidential campaign and did not disclose those meetings during his Senate confirmation hearing, Sessions announced last week that he would recuse himself from all Justice Department investigations related to the 2016 election.