Attorney General William Barr and U.S. Attorney John Durham have reached out to the United Kingdom, Italy, Australia, and likely other Western nations as part of the Justice Department’s inquiry into the Trump-Russia investigators.

The Australian government confirmed on Monday that President Trump reached out for their assistance in this effort, and it was reported that Barr has spoken with British intelligence officials about his inquiry. Both Barr and Durham traveled to Italy last week to meet with Italian government officials to urge them to assist in this investigation, as well.

Durham's team is "exploring the extent to which a number of countries, including Ukraine, played a role in the counterintelligence investigation directed at the Trump campaign during the 2016 election,” Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said last week.

Durham has been Barr's right hand as they look into the complic ated and classified issues surrounding the genesis of what became special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into the Trump campaign's alleged ties with Russia, though the U.S. attorney from Connecticut has been virtually silent since his selection.

Trump gave Barr “ full and complete authority to declassify information” related to the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation in May after Barr infuriated Democrats when he said “spying did occur” on the Trump campaign and refused to backtrack. Republicans have alleged that foreign intelligence agencies, such as those in Western Europe, may have played a role in eavesdropping on or otherwise monitoring Trump campaign associates in 2016.

"The Australian government has always been ready to assist and cooperate with efforts that help shed further light on matters under investigation," the Australian government said in a statement on Monday. "The PM confirmed this readiness once again in conversation with the President."

An Australian diplomat, Alexander Downer, played a key role behind the FBI's decision to initiate a counterintelligence investigation into Trump's presidential campaign after reporting that Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos allegedly told him the Russians had damaging information on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Durham sought an interview with and reportedly obtained an audio deposition of Joseph Mifsud, the mysterious Maltese academic who allegedly was the one who told Papadopoulos that Russia had “dirt” on Clinton.

News of the phone call to Australia and the outreach to the U.K. and Italy comes amid scrutiny over another phone call that Trump had on July 25 with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. That phone call ended up being a central tenet of an August whistleblower complaint against Trump, raising concerns about a possible effort to pressure Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden by leveraging millions of dollars of security aid.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced an impeachment inquiry into Trump last week, after which the transcript of the phone call was released. The whistleblower complaint was also released last week. The call and complaint prompted some Democrats who previously did not support impeachment to change their minds. Trump claims the call and complaint clear him of any wrongdoing.

Trump suggested in the call that Ukraine should investigate Biden and his son Hunter, who was on the board of a company owned by Ukrainian oligarch Mykola Zlochevsky. Zlochevsky was being investigated by top prosecutor Viktor Shokin, though it is in dispute how serious that investigation was. Trump also suggested that Ukraine should look into issues surrounding the alleged involvement of some Ukrainians in 2016 presidential election interference.

Biden boasted in 2018 that, as vice president, he threatened to withhold $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees if Ukraine didn’t fire Shokin, which Trump's allies have said was because of the investigation. Democrats have said such was part of a U.S. and European effort to oust Shokin as ineffective and a hindrance to Ukraine’s anti-corruption investigations. Ukraine removed Shokin in 2016.

The DOJ said Trump never told Barr to contact Ukraine about any investigation of Biden, nor did Barr ever discuss these issues with Ukraine or with Trump's attorney, Rudy Giuliani. “While the Attorney General has yet to contact Ukraine in connection with this investigation, certain Ukrainians who are not members of the government have volunteered information to Mr. Durham, which he is evaluating,” Kupec said last week.

The DOJ denied that Barr or Durham had been working with Giuliani in any Ukraine-related efforts.

Durham’s investigation is separate from the one that was recently finished by DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz and is expected to be released in the coming weeks. The DOJ watchdog investigated allegations of abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act by the DOJ and the FBI, and Horowitz has spoken with Durham, who is handling any criminal referrals from Horowitz’s investigation.