Attorney General Is Considering the Appointment of an Independent Investigator

During a Thursday appearance on “The Hugh Hewitt Show,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions was asked a wide range of questions by the nationally syndicated radio host, but one in particular should be seen as a warning to President Barack Obama and members of his former administration.

“I’m a proud veteran of the Department of Justice, as you are,” Hewitt said. “But the IRS case, the ‘Fast and Furious’ case, Secretary Clinton’s server, the Department of Justice came under great criticism.

“How about an outside counsel, not connected to politics, to review the DOJ’s actions in those matters with authority to bring charges if underlying crimes are uncovered in the course of the investigation, and just generally to look at how the Department of Justice operated in the highly-politicized Holder-Lynch years?”

Sessions said it was something he was open to doing. Not only that, but he said it was something he is actually considering.

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

Hewitt asked if Sessions would be looking at the IRS investigation specifically, which he said was an example of where the department “laid down for a terrible abuse of political power.” The attorney general said that was a “matter of real concern” to him, and that when he was in the Senate, he was left with a lot of unanswered questions.

A majority of Americans have said they did not trust the government under Obama, and while the Trump administration still has a long way to go to repair that broken trust, voters were excited with President Donald Trump’s “drain the swamp” plans. Criminal prosecution of Obama administration officials, however, probably weren’t what anyone was expecting.

Sessions was also asked about Guantanamo Bay and expediting the military tribunals for terrorists linked to the 9/11 attacks, his appointment of Noel Francisco as Solicitor General-designate, Judge Neil Gorsuch’s Supreme Court confirmation, the religious liberty case Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Pauley, circuit court vacancies, marijuana legalization, bankrupt state pension funds, federal judicial pay and illegal immigration. Click here to listen to the entire interview. {eoa}