(CNN) Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Tuesday that the internal watchdog at the Justice Department is looking at whether the FBI has properly handled applications for surveillance orders under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Sessions, appearing at a news conference announcing a new opioid task force, was asked about House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes' controversial mem o outlining purported surveillance abuses and told reporters that "the inspector general will take that as one of the matters he'll deal with."

"We believe the Department of Justice must adhere to the highest standards in the FISA court, and yes, it will be investigated, and I think that's just the appropriate thing," Sessions added.

When the Nunes memo, which focuses on the FISA warrants on former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page, was released earlier this month, Sessions signaled that any abuses of the process would be investigated.

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