Barr's spy talk emboldens Trump's allies ahead of Mueller report's release
For two years, President Trump’s most devoted allies have struggled to legitimize their accusations that the FBI conducted political spying on the Trump campaign in 2016 — at times openly feuding with Republican leaders over their grievances with the investigation of Russia’s election interference.
But on Wednesday, those assertions received their biggest boost yet, and from an unlikely source: Attorney General William P. Barr, who told a Senate subcommittee, “I think spying did occur, yes.”
Never mind that he later clarified that his use of the word was meant to describe surveillance generally, without making a judgment about whether it was appropriate. The moment set off a firestorm, with those who have defended the FBI complaining that the attorney general had legitimized an outlandish conspiracy theory — while those critical of the Russia probe have embraced his remarks as vindication of their cause.
The reaction has underscored a deep distrust between Trump’s allies and top law enforcement officials, and between the Justice Department’s current and past leadership. And it has amplified the anxiety surrounding special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s report on the Russia investigation, a redacted version of which could be released within days.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/barrs-spy-talk-emboldens-trumps-allies-ahead-of-mueller-reports-release/ar-BBVVbmZ?li=BBnbcA1
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