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Barr: FBI Likely Acted in Bad Faith While Investigating Trump

Attorney General William Barr said that the Obama administrations FBI may have been acting in “bad f..

Attorney General William Barr said that the Obama administrations FBI may have been acting in “bad faith” while probing whether President Donald Trumps 2016 campaign had ties to Russia.

Barr, in an interview with NBC News on Tuesday, dismissed findings by the Department of Justices Inspector General, Michael Horowitz, that the FBI wasnt acting on a political bias when it surveilled Trump campaign staffer Carter Page for about a year.

“I think probably from a civil liberties standpoint, the greatest danger to our free system is that the incumbent government use the apparatus of the state, principally, the law enforcement agencies and the intelligence agencies, both to spy on political opponents. But as to use them in a way that could affect the outcome of the election. As far as Im aware, this is the first time in history that this has been done to a presidential campaign,” he told NBC on Tuesday.

Barr also accused the media of unremittingly carrying a misleading narrative that Trump colluded with Russia. Earlier this year, former special counsel Robert Mueller revealed Trumps campaign didnt collude with Moscow.

“I think our nation was turned on its head for three years based on a completely bogus narrative that was largely fanned and hyped by a completely irresponsible press,” Barr said.

“I think there were gross abuses … and inexplicable behavior that is intolerable in the FBI. I think that leaves open the possibility that there was bad faith.”

John Durham and Michael Horowitz
John Durham and Michael Horowitz
L-U.S. Attorney John Durham. (Department of Justice); R-Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo)

Horowitz concluded in a report released on Monday that the four applications for warrants to spy on Page contained 17 significant errors.

The errors and other failures amounted to “serious performance failures by the supervisory and non-supervisory agents,” his report said. Horowitz said that FBI agents didnt investigate Trump out of political bias.

However, Barr told the broadcaster that Horowitz didnt look very hard and claimed the inspector general merely accepted the FBIs answers at face value.

“All he said was, people gave me an explanation and I didnt find anything to contradict it…he hasnt decided the issue of improper motive,” Barr remarked. “I think we have to wait until the full investigation is done.”

The attorney general added that he still believes Trumps campaign was spied on.

“It was clearly spied upon,” he told the network. “Thats what electronic surveillance is … going through peoples emails, wiring people up.”

Barr added, “There was and never has been any evidence of collusion and yet this campaign and the presidents administration has been dominated by this investigation into what turns out to be completely baseless.”

The FBI launched a counterintelligence investigation of the Trump campaign in late July 2016. On Monday, Barr concluded that the investigation was “intrusive” and was initiated based “on the thinnest of suspicions.” The suspicions were “insufficient” to justify the steps the bureau went on to take, he said.

U.S. Attorney John Durham, whom Barr appointed to run a separate investigation on the Russia probe, baRead More – Source

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