FBI Director Chris Wray said that he does not consider court-approved FBI surveillance to be “spying” and said he has no evidence the FBI illegally monitored Donald Trump’s campaign during the 2016 election.
His comments at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing broke from Atty. Gen. William Barr, who said last month that he believed the Trump campaign had been spied on during an investigation into potential collusion with Russia. Trump seized on that comment as part of his allegation that the investigation was tainted by law enforcement bias.
He added: “I believe that the FBI is engaged in investigative activity, and part of investigative activity includes surveillance activity of different shapes and sizes. And to me, the key question is making sure that’s done by the book, consistent with our lawful authorities. That’s the key question. Different people use different colloquial phrases.
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