Bill Barr Holds His Ground: Trump Campaign “Was Clearly Spied On”

Here's more on what Barr had to say from NBC:

Attorney General William Barr said he still believes the FBI may have operated out of "bad faith" when it investigated whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia, and he contends the FBI acted improperly by continuing the investigation after Donald Trump took office.

In an exclusive interview with NBC News, Barr essentially dismissed the findings of the Justice Department's inspector general that there was no evidence of political bias in the launching of the Russia probe, saying that his hand-picked prosecutor, John Durham, will have the last word on the matter.

"I think our nation was turned on its head for three years based on a completely bogus narrative that was largely fanned and hyped by a completely irresponsible press," Barr said. "I think there were gross abuses …and inexplicable behavior that is intolerable in the FBI."

"I think that leaves open the possibility that there was bad faith."

Barr's blistering criticism of the FBI's conduct in the Russia investigation, which went well beyond the errors outlined in the inspector general report, is bound to stoke further debate about whether the attorney general is acting in good faith, or as a political hatchet man for Trump.

Inspector General Michael Horowitz, after reviewing a million documents and interviewing 100 people, concluded that he "did not find documentary or testimonial evidence that political bias or improper motivation influenced the decisions to open" the investigations into Trump campaign aides.

But Barr argued that Horowitz didn't look very hard, and that the inspector general accepted the FBI's explanations at face value.

"All he said was, people gave me an explanation and I didn't find anything to contradict it … he hasn't decided the issue of improper motive," Barr said. "I think we have to wait until the full investigation is done."

Barr said he stood by his assertion that the Trump campaign was spied on, noting that the FBI used confidential informants who recorded conversations with Trump campaign officials.

"It was clearly spied upon," he said. "That's what electronic surveillance is … going through people's emails, wiring people up."

Barr portrayed the Russia investigation as a bogus endeavor that was foisted on Trump, rather than something undertaken by career civil servants who were concerned about whether a foreign power had compromised a political campaign.

"From a civil liberties standpoint, the greatest danger to our free system is that the incumbent government use the apparatus of the state … both to spy on political opponents but also to use them in a way that could affect the outcome of an election," Barr said. He added that this was the first time in history that "counterintelligence techniques" were used against a presidential campaign.

Barr said that presidential campaigns are frequently in contact with foreigners, contradicting the comments of numerous political professionals who have said for two years that there is rarely, if ever, a reason for a presidential campaign to be in touch with Russians.

Barr added, "There was and never has been any evidence of collusion and yet this campaign and the president’s administration has been dominated by this investigation into what turns out to be completely baseless."

But the biggest outrage, Barr said, is that the FBI's "case collapsed after the election and they never told the court and they kept on getting these renewals."

CBS also said:

Attorney General Bill Barr chided the FBI for "gross abuses" of counterintelligence tools and "inexplicable behavior" and called the bureau's investigation into ties between Russia and the Trump campaign "completely baseless."

Barr's condemnation of the FBI follows the release of a long-awaited report from the Justice Department's inspector general into the origins of the bureau's Russia probe. The review by Inspector General Michael Horowitz found that while the FBI made several procedural errors and there were "serious performance failures," there was overall no political bias by the agency. 

While the inspector general determined the FBI was justified in opening its investigation, called "Crossfire Hurricane," Barr told NBC News in his first interview since the report's release that the probe upended the country for several years and was based on a "bogus narrative."

"I think our nation was turned on its head for three years based on a completely bogus narrative that was largely fanned and hyped by an irresponsible press," he said. "I think that there were gross abuses of FISA and inexplicable behavior that is intolerable in the FBI."

In a separate appearance later Tuesday at the annual meeting of the Wall Street Journal's CEO Council, Barr called the investigation conducted by the FBI a "travesty."

Barr criticized the FBI in the NBC News interview for using "intrusive techniques" when it conducted surveillance of Carter Page, a Trump campaign aide who used to live and work in Russia and who visited Russia in a personal capacity during the 2016 presidential campaign.

He also reiterated his belief that the FBI "clearly spied" on the Trump campaign.

"That's what electronic surveillance is," he said. "Wiring people up to go in and talk to people, make recordings of their conversation, is spying, I think going through people's emails, which they did as a result of the FISA warrant."