Trump’s ‘Obamagate’ won’t stir probe: Barr
Attorney General William Barr poured cold water on President Trump’s baseless “Obamagate” conspiracy-mongering on Monday, saying he does not expect the former commander-in-chief to come under criminal investigation.
“As to President Obama and Vice President Biden, whatever their level of involvement, based on the information I have today, I don’t expect Mr. Durham’s work will lead to a criminal investigation of either man,” Barr (inset) said at a press conference, referring to John Durham, the U.S. attorney handpicked by the AG to review the FBI’s initial investigation of the Trump campaign’s 2016 ties to Russia.
Barr’s comments are likely to unnerve Trump, who has for days claimed completely without evidence that Obama, Biden and other top members of that administration perpetuated the “biggest political crime in American history” because the FBI investigated his campaign.
Despite the astonishing accusation, Trump has struggled to even explain what crime he believes his predecessor committed, invariably only referring to the alleged offense as
“Obamagate.”
At a White House event later Monday, Trump said he was “surprised” by Barr’s comments and reiterated his unsubstantiated charge.
“If it was me, I guarantee you they’d be going after me,” Trump said. “I have no doubt they were involved in this hoax. … I have absolutely no doubt that Obama and Biden were involved.”
Without offering names, Barr voiced unease during the press conference about a spike in politically motivated accusations of wrongdoing.
“The legal tactic has been to gin up allegations of criminality by one’s political opponents based on the flimsiest of legal theories,” Barr said. “This is not a good development.”
Though he broke with Trump on the “Obamagate” front, Barr reiterated his belief that the FBI did not have sufficient grounds to investigate the president’s 2016 campaign over contacts with Russian officials — an assertion disputed by the Justice Department’s own inspector general.
“The law enforcement and intelligence apparatus of this country were involved in advancing a false and utterly baseless Russian collusion narrative against the president,” Barr said.