Dems ask intel chiefs to help monitor Barr’s review of probe
WASHINGTON — The top Democrats on the House and Senate Intelligence committees notified the nation’s spy chiefs Friday that they intend to closely monitor efforts by Attorney General William Barr to review the government probe of President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign — and expect them to inform lawmakers about the extent to which their agencies are cooperating.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., sent letters to the heads of the CIA, FBI, NSA and the Director of National Intelligence, demanding in-person briefings to discuss what materials Barr has sought thus far and that copies are to be shared with the committee. He insisted, too, that they notify the panel in advance if Barr intends to declassify anything, noting when they disagreed with his orders and why.
In a separate letter, the Senate Intelligence Committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, asked the spy chiefs to “immediately” inform the panel “if you see signs” that Barr’s inquiry risks compromising intelligencegathering sources and methods, affecting relationships with foreign liaisons, or adversely impacting the intelligence community’s workforce.
He also asked that they notify the panel of any “selective declassification” that appeared politically motivated.
Trump last week granted Barr “full and complete authority” to declassify government secrets, and directed the intelligence agencies to comply swiftly with the attorney general’s audit of their work related to the 2016 election. The move has outraged congressional Democrats, who continue to clash with the White House over its refusal to cooperate with their investigations of the president, while unnerving current and former FBI officials and those in the intelligence community who have denied Trump’s claims that “spying” was conducted on his campaign.
Barr’s inquiry “represents a disturbing effort by the President and the Attorney General to politicize the Intelligence Community and law enforcement,” Schiff wrote in his letters, saying Trump and Barr were “engaged in a public campaign to further a conspiracy theory” and that their efforts could undermine national security.
Barr has been criticized by former FBI director James Comey, among others, for also using the term “spying” to characterize how investigators monitored some Trump campaign advisers who had contacts with Russians. His critics maintain that such surveillance was a proper part of a counterintelligence investigation.
In an interview that aired Friday on “CBS This Morning,” Barr stated that investigations surrounding Trump’s 2016 campaign were “unprecedented” and crossed “a serious red line.”
“People have to understand, you know, one of the things here is that these efforts in 2016, these counterintelligence activities that were directed at the Trump campaign, were not done in the normal course and not through the normal procedures as a far as I can tell,” Barr said. It’s difficult, he added, “not (to) feel that there was gross bias at work.”
Barr appeared to be referencing anti-Trump text messages exchanged by former FBI counterintelligence official Peter Strzok and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, who were involved in the bureau’s probes of Trump and his political opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Republicans in Congress have argued that the texts are evidence of bias within the FBI, though a Justice Department inspector general’s report released last year concluded that while some individuals might have expressed their political leanings and opinions, bias had not affected the Clinton probe.
Barr scoffed at concerns that he might compromise intelligence-gathering, noting he would declassify material only in “an exceptional circumstance” and in consultation with the agencies. But he didn’t swear off the possibility of making some material public.