AG Barr...

AG Barr says “I think spying did occur” against Trump campaign 

The criticism of Barr reached a crescendo after he used the word “spying” in congressional testimony to refer to the surveillance of Trump campaign officials in 2016. 

The reaction to his testimony was over-the-top. Yes, the word “spying” has a negative connotation, but it’s functionally indistinguishable from “surveiling.”  

There is no doubt that Trump officials were surveilled or spied on. The FBI famously acquired a FISA warrant against Carter Page, but the warrant allowed it to look back at his time with the campaign.

The FBI also gathered information on Page and campaign adviser George Papadopoulos via an informant, who contacted Trump aide Sam Clovis, as well.

The question is whether this surveillance was properly predicated. Barr is being attacked as a partisan hack for saying he’s going to find out. 

Democrats fear that Trump will use whatever is found for his own political purposes, but this isn’t a good reason to oppose Barr determining whether the intelligence agencies conducted itself in good faith during this episode. 

The public certainly has an interest in knowing the facts, this may be the next emails mishap of 2016.

Barr wrote a memo prior to his appointment as attorney general outlining his view that the legally aggressive theory of obstruction of justice that Mueller seemed to be operating on was flawed.  

Barr didn’t take the job of attorney general for the sake of résumé padding he already had the job on his résumé. He thought his experience, knowledge, and credibility gave him a unique ability to lead the Justice Department at an incredibly fraught time. Nothing he has done so far has cast any doubt on that assessment.  [MSN-News]