Attorney General Jeff Sessions flew to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba on Friday to inspect the infamous detention facility that President Obama tried and failed to close and President Trump vowed to fill with 'bad dudes.'

The visit comes five months into the president's term, where he has yet to formally act on Obama's executive order to close the prison. Congress blocked President Barack Obama's effort to close it, but Obama gradually transferred prisoners, bringing the population down to 41 today.

'Keeping this country safe from terrorists is the highest priority of the Trump administration. Recent attacks in Europe and elsewhere confirm that the threat to our nation is immediate and real, and it remains essential that we use every lawful tool available to prevent as many attacks as possible,' said Justice Department spokesman Ian Prior in a statement.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Friday visited the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba

'In addition to the Department of Justice's role in handling detainee-related litigation, it is important for the Department of Justice to have an up-to-date understanding of current operations. The purpose of the trip is to gain that understanding by meeting with the people on the ground who are leading our government-wide efforts at GTMO.'

Last February, after Obama pledged his commitment to closing Guantanamo, Trump flatly contradicted his predecessor.

'This morning, I watched President Obama talking about Gitmo, right, Guantanamo Bay, which by the way, which by the way, we are keeping open,' Trump said at a campaign rally.

U.S. Army Military Police escort a detainee to his cell January 11, 2001 in Camp X-Ray at Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, during in-processing to the temporary detention. The detainees will be given a basic physical exam by a doctor, to include a chest x-ray and blood samples drawn to assess their health, the military said. The U.S. Department of Defense released the photo January 18, 2002

Attorney General Jeff Sessions visited the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba Friday

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, pictured testifying before the Senate Appropriations subcomittee, on June, 13, 2017, accompanied Sessions

A U.S. soldier looks into a cell of the "Gitmo" maximum security detention center on October 22, 2016 at the U.S. Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The U.S. military's Joint Task Force Guantanamo is still holding 60 detainees at the prison, down from a previous total of 780. On his second day in office in 2008 President Obama issued an executive order to close the prison, which has failed because of political opposition in the U.S

'Which we are keeping open ... and we're gonna load it up with some bad dudes, believe me, we're gonna load it up,' Trump vowed.

Since he took office, however, Trump has yet to rescind Obama's order.

Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats was also expected, the Miami Herald reported from Guantanamo.

Sessions visited Guantanamo as a senator and has championed its active use. Opened as a detention facility during the Bush administration, Guantanamo's population swelled with prisoners taken captive on the battlefield in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Terror mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed is among those being held at Guantanamo. The Bush and Obama administrations released hundreds of others under international pressure

The facility has been used to hold high value detainees such as Khalid Sheik Mohammad, but also hundreds of lesser detainees who got released after the government decided it couldn't prosecute them. Some countries accepted former detainees while others were sent to third countries as the prison drew international condemnation.