AG Barr: "I Think Spying Did Occur" Against Trump Campaign, and I Need to Investigate If It Was Justified or Not

Obama, you might have heard, ran a scandal-free administration.

Except for the matter of weaponizing the intelligence community and DOJ and FBI to spy on a rival campaign in a move that makes Watergate look like a college lark.

Attorney General William Barr dropped a bombshell Wednesday, telling a group of senators that he believes spying against the Trump campaign did take place in 2016.

"I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal," Barr said during an exchange with Democratic New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Shaheen asked in a follow-up whether Barr believed the FBI spied on the Trump team.

"You're not suggesting, though, that spying occurred?" Shaheen asked.

"I think spying did occur. Yes, I think spying did occur. But the question is whether it was predicated, adequately predicated," Barr said.

Video at the link.

Chuck Ross notes that Democrats "bristle" at the word "spy" used to describe Obama's/Brennan's/Clapper's/Comey's actions.

A friend watching it tells me that liberal Democrat Senator from Hawaii, Brian Schatz, actually said he was worried/bothered that people would hear the Obama government spied on Trump from cable news, by which, of course, he meant "Fox News."

In addition, Barr said that it was unusual that the target of an alleged foreign intelligence operation would not be informed of this in a defensive briefing. Obama's spying operation, of course, went out of its way to hide this from Trump and lied to him about it.

There was news Barr would be "getting his arms around" this yesterday, but now comes word he's recruited investigators to look into the FBI and DOJ.

Attorney General William Barr has assembled a team to review controversial counterintelligence decisions made by Justice Department and FBI officials, including actions taken during the probe of the Trump campaign in the summer of 2016, according to a person familiar with the matter.

This indicates that Barr is looking into allegations that Republican lawmakers have been pursuing for more than a year -- that the investigation into President Donald Trump and possible collusion with Russia was tainted at the start by anti-Trump bias in the FBI and Justice Department.

Update: The leftwing, insurrectionist media is talking this well.

Natasha Bertrand poses as a national security expert -- but is apparently unaware that FISA warrants permit looking backwards in time through someone's communications, meaning Obama's men could spy on any communications Page had with the Trump campaign when he was (briefly) part of their advisory board.

posted by Ace of Spades at 11:55 AM

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