Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Friday he is taking "seriously" complaints President Trump has raised about bias against him in the Justice Department, but stopped short of saying he will appoint a special counsel to investigate that bias.

“We’re going to take seriously the concerns that have been expressed,” Sessions said. "I would just say that we intend to monitor our people to maintain high standards. But I got to tell you, sometimes things that appear to be bad in the press have more innocent explanations."

Trump’s lawyer, Jay Sekulow, said a special counsel should be created to investigate Bruce Ohr, a high-ranking Justice Department official in the deputy attorney general’s office. Ohr met in 2016 with Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson and Christopher Steele, the British intelligence officer who put the controversial so-called "Trump dossier" together.

Ohr, who has since been demoted, was also married to Nellie Ohr, who worked for Fusion GPS during the 2016 presidential election.

Sekulow told CNN earlier this week a special counsel should be appointed to investigate Ohr’s ties to Fusion GPS.

Sessions also offered a defense of the FBI, telling reporters he believes the agency is “doing a great job around the country … We are reaching a higher level of unity and sophistication than we ever have.”

The comments came the same day that Sessions sat near Trump as he delivered a speech to law enforcement officers, and said it's a " shame" what has happened with the FBI. Trump called the agency’s handling of its investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server “really disgraceful" and promised to “rebuild” the FBI.

“I don’t share the view that the FBI is not functioning at a high level," Sessions said Friday. "In my view, the FBI has huge national security requirement but it's also fulfilling a fabulously important role against working to fight violent crime."