Kirsters Baish| During a Wednesday hearing in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Attorney General William Barr defended his claim that the Obama Justice Department “spied” on Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential election.
While testifying in front of the Senate Appropriations Committee in April, Barr stated, “I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal.”
During a hearing on April 10, Democratic New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen questioned Barr as to whether he truly felt that the FBI had spied on the Trump campaign.
“I think spying did occur. Yes, I think spying did occur. But the question is whether it was predicated, adequately predicated,” Barr answered matter-of-factly.
On Wednesday, Democratic Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island questioned Barr about his use of the word “spying” on Wednesday, asking the Attorney General “if he had ever referred to the FBI’s authorized surveillance in that way publicly before,” according to Western Journal.
“I’m not going to abjure the use of the word ‘spying,’” Barr answered. “My first job was in CIA, and I don’t think the word spying has any pejorative connotation at all. To me, the question is always whether or not it’s authorized and adequately predicated spying.
He continued, “I think ‘spying’ is a good English word that in fact doesn’t have synonyms because it is the broadest word incorporating really all forms of covert intelligence collections. So I’m not going to back off the word ‘spying.’”
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Barr explained that his office had “looked back at news media usage of the word prior to his April 10 testimony and the “faux outrage” it generated and found spying commonly referred in media stories in relation to authorized actions by the government. Whitehouse countered the word is not commonly used by DOJ,” according to Western Journal.
“It’s commonly used by me,” Barr stated.
On Wednesday, Barr said, once again, that his office is still looking into Crossfire Hurricane, the counterintelligence probe into the 2016 Trump campaign.
Western Journal reports:
The FBI obtained multiple Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants to surveil Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. The warrants reportedly were secured at least in part through the submission of a dossier compiled by former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele to the FISA court.
The Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign funded the dossier through the opposition research firm Fusion GPS.
The FBI also reportedly employed at least one informant — Stefan Halper — to make contact with Page, campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos and campaign consultant Sam Clovis during the 2016 race.
During his Wednesday testimony, Attorney General Barr indicated to GOP Utah Senator Mike Lee that the surveillance on Trump’s campaign might date back to before “Crossfire Hurricane” and go “beyond the FISA warrant against Page and Halper’s work.”
Barr stated, “Many people seem to assume that the only intelligence collection that occurred was a single confidential informant and a FISA warrant. I’d like to find out whether that is in fact true. It strikes me as a fairly anemic effort if that was the counterintelligence effort designed to stop the threat as it’s being represented.”
When Lee questioned if there were numerous Trump campaign officials being surveilled during the 2016 campaign, Barr answered, “Those are the things I need to look at.”
