Dems: ‘Spy’ claim hurts AG credibility

Attorney General William Barr shredded his own credibility by parroting right-wing claims that the Obama administration spied on the 2016 Trump campaign, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and other Democrats charged on Thursday.

Barr told the Senate a day earlier he was looking at whether any laws had been broken by FBI and Justice Department officials in obtaining foreign surveillance warrants to investigate Russian contacts with Trump campaign advisers — activity Barr called “spying” during a Senate committee hearing.

The Russian probe led to the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller. Use of the word “spying” to describe that initial investigation echoes the language of President Trump and some of his more strident supporters who call the probe “Spygate.”

Schumer, talking to reporters after Democrats issued a raft of demands regarding the Mueller report, argued Democrats could no longer have faith in Barr’s ability to do a reasonable job in evaluating what he will release from special counsel Robert Mueller’s 22-month investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

“Barr’s comments yesterday have just destroyed the scintilla of credibility he had left in terms of being a fair and impartial person,” Schumer told reporters in Washington.

Later, Barr softened his words some, but Schumer insisted Barr “knew what he was doing — this was not an accident” when he used “the words of the conspiracy theorists and some of the president’s allies on Fox News.”

Barr has refused to discuss the Mueller report beyond a four-page summary. He said he will release a redacted version next week, but Democrats want the whole thing, and said as much in a letter letter to Barr signed by Schumer, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, committee chairman Rep. Jerry Nadler and other topranking Democrats.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Justice did not immediately reply to a request for comment.