Attorney general says he thinks ‘spying did occur’ in Trump campaign probe, a startling assertion that it may have been mishandled
By Devlin Barrett and Devlin Barrett Reporter focusing on national security and law enforcement Email Bio Follow Karoun Demirjian Karoun Demirjian Congressional reporter focusing on national security Email Bio Follow April 10 at 11:30 AM Attorney General William P.
“I’m not suggesting that those rules were violated, but I think it’s important to look at that,” he said. “I’m not talking about the FBI necessarily but intelligence agencies more broadly.”Barr answered: “I think spying did occur, yes, I think spying did occur,” though he added the key question is whether law enforcement officials had a proper legal justification to open such an investigation and intelligence-gathering.
Those statements are likely to appease the president, who has repeatedly denounced the FBI’s former director, James B. Comey, and some of his top aides in their handling of the Russia investigation. Shortly before Wednesday’s hearing, Trump called the Russia probe “an illegal investigation, it was started illegally. Everything about it was crooked, every single thing about it was crooked.”Barr also said a redacted version of Mueller’s report would be released “hopefully next week.
The redaction process has raised suspicions among Democrats, concerns that intensified after recent reports indicating that some on Mueller’s team are unhappy with the brevity of Barr’s initial report to Congress and believe more could and should be said about the seriousness of what they found.
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