AG Barr pushes spy claim
unfairly targeted by the FBI.
Barr was testifying for a second day at congressional budget hearings that were dominated by questions about special counsel Robert Mueller’s Trump-russia investigation. The attorney general said he expects to release a redacted version of Mueller’s report next week.
Democrats have expressed concern that his version will conceal wrongdoing by the president and are frustrated by the fourpage summary letter he released last month that they say paints Mueller’s findings in an overly favourable way for the president.
Barr’s testimony yesterday further inflamed the Democrats.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she didn’t trust Barr and suggested his statements undermined his credibility as America’s chief law enforcement officer. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler of New York tweeted that Barr’s comments ‘‘directly contradict’’ what the Justice Department previously has said. And intelligence committee Chairman Adam Schiff of California said Barr’s comments were sure to please Trump, but strike ‘‘another destructive blow to our democratic institutions.’’
Republicans, meanwhile, praised Barr’s testimony. North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows, a Trump confidant who has raised concerns about Justice Department conduct investigating Trump, tweeted that Barr’s willingness to step in is ‘‘massive.’’
At the Capitol hearing, senators appeared taken aback by his use of the word ‘‘spying.’’ Asked by Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz if he wanted to rephrase his language, Barr said, ‘‘I’m not sure of all the connotations of that word that you’re referring to, but you know, unauthorised surveillance.’’
Barr is an experienced public figure who chooses his words carefully, and it’s not clear if he realised what a political storm he’d create in using the word ‘‘spying.’’ While it could be used to describe lawful and necessary intelligence collection activities, for Trump and his supporters in this case it has an inherently negative meaning.
White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said on Fox Business News that ‘‘People were wiretapped. People were looked into and spied upon. That should be a serious question that the American people should demand answers for and quite frankly so should Congress.’’
Trump has repeatedly said the investigation of his campaign is an illegal ‘‘witch hunt.’’
Yesterday he said, ‘‘It was started illegally. Everything about it was crooked. Every single thing about it. There were dirty cops.’’
Though Barr said at his January confirmation hearing that he didn’t believe Mueller would be involved in a witch hunt, he struck a different tone yesterday and said it ‘‘depends on where you’re sitting.’’ –AP