Posted on 04/13/2019 9:11:35 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
President Trump said Thursday that he agrees with Attorney General William Barr’s explosive, since-clarified assertion that he believes the FBI was “spying” on Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.
“I think what he said was absolutely true — there was absolutely spying into my campaign,” Trump told reporters inside the Oval Office before a bilateral meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. “I’ll go a step further: It was illegal spying, unprecedented spying. And something that should never be allowed to happen in our country again. And I think his answer was a very accurate one.”
On Wednesday, Barr touched off a firestorm during a hearing on Capitol Hill, saying he believes “spying did occur” in the federal investigation into the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russia while defending his review of the probe.
By the end of the hearing, though, he backed off his explosive claim.
“I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal,” Barr said during testimony before the Senate Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies subcommittee.
“Spying” is a pejorative term not normally used to describe domestic counterintelligence investigations.
“I think spying did occur,” he said. “The question was whether it was adequately predicated. And I’m not suggesting it wasn’t predicated. I need to explore that.”
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Im not aware that legitimate spying is a “pejorative term”.
Do not tell me Barr is a weakling, too.
Dylan Stableford
Senior Trump hater and fake news journalist at Yahoo News
https://twitter.com/stableford
AFAIK, that's the only aspect of his testimony that he "backed off" on.
Not sure where he’s (Barr) backing off his claim
Only those who have drunk the kool-aid exploded, on the of course. Normal Americans figured it out a long time ago.
I’m giving Barr the benefit of the doubt in his phrasing. Remember, he’s overseeing the INVESTIGATIVE phase, and even though the spying against Trump happened, Barr has to use the “alleged” terminology and phrasing in formal or official capacity until such evidence is formalized and presented for indictment to a grand jury.
So far, Barr has been on track with playing a fair hand with regard to this most outrageous domestic coup attempt in American history. There may be a time where he will go John Roberts on us, but based on his actions, and Trump’s learning curve of being able to pick personnel not tied to the swamp, I feel a bit more confident than I did a month ago.
</sarcasm>
Idiot newsies at Yah-effin-hoo say Barr backed off.
Bull Schiff.
Exactly, the same way "gross negligence" in handling top secret material is a crime, but "extreme carelessness" is not.
The only weaklings here are people who trust yahoo news spin on Barr’s testimony
Barr did not back off of his claim one bit. He rephrased it and made the question appear stupid. This is a VERY misleading headline, but we should expect no less.
There should be an extremely high bar for any surveillance of a campaign and CLEARLY it was not only unfounded, but there was no predicate crime given that Page was not charged. It was not only the FISA surveillance. The rampant unmasking of NSA data as well as the unfettered access by persons conducting oppo research (Fusion GPS/Nellie Ohr) was illegal and a clear violation of the 4th and 5th amendment.
It also appears quite possible that Papadopolous might have been the subject of a FISA warrant. This is very alarming given that it appears our intel and the 5 eyes group conducted a push-pull effort to entrap him. Bet that was not mentioned in the FISA application on him either.
This is serious stuff that should concern every American.
Nope! He didn't. That is FAKE NEWS!
Barr didn’t back off. He is after all investigating
Read the article. I saw nothing in it, not a quote or anything where Barr backed off, or attempted to back off his original comment. Just journalistic wishful thinking.
No. Listen or watch the hearing. He is answering in a lawyerly specific way to the questions asked. He still thinks there was spying
He was just mocking the cornered slathering RAT.
So far, I really like this guy.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.