Posted on 05/30/2019 6:41:28 PM PDT by yesthatjallen
Attorney General William Barr said he does not think some Obama-era Justice Department officials who oversaw the Russia investigation committed treason.
"Not as a legal matter, no," Barr told CBS News chief legal correspondent Jan Crawford when asked if he believed senior officials in the Obama administration committed treason, an accusation Mr. Trump has repeatedly made.
Pressed on whether he had concerns about the way these officials conducted the investigation into Russian interference in U.S. elections and possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Moscow, the attorney general replied, "Yes."
"Sometimes people can convince themselves that what they're doing is in the higher interest and better good," he said during an exclusive interview in Alaska on Thursday. "They don't realize that what they're doing is really antithetical to the democratic system that we have."
After multiple calls by Mr. Trump to "investigate the investigators," the attorney general earlier this month tapped the U.S. attorney in Connecticut to lead an investigation into the origins of the Russian inquiry. Last week, the president granted Barr sweeping powers to declassify counterintelligence information and ordered the nation's intelligence agencies to cooperate with the attorney general's review.
The probe is the third one examining the Russia investigation. The U.S. attorney in Utah and the Justice Department's inspector general have been investigating possible bias among Justice Department officials and whether government surveillance of the Trump campaign was appropriate.
Asked about criticism he has faced from Democrats and former government officials for saying the Trump campaign was "spied on" by federal investigators, Barr rejected the idea that "spying" is a "dirty word."
"I think there is nothing wrong with spying," he said. "The question is always whether it is authorized by law and properly predicated, and if it is, then it is an important tool the United States has to protect the country."
During the interview Thursday, Barr also said special counsel Robert Mueller could have reached a decision on whether the president committed obstruction of justice, regardless of long-standing Justice Department policy that prohibits the indictment of a sitting president.
How about basic abuse of power?
Surely there are legal aveunues for prosecution of an administration which mis-employs the mecha isms of government in order to subvert the election prospects of an opposing political party.
It’s sedition, not treason.
So far.
Still, crimes is crimes. We won't hang them, just put them in prison, like carjackers.
Piano Wire and Meat Hooks. It would be a start.
I wish Barr would do more work and fewer interviews with CBS.
Let’s hear what the Democrats have been doing.
They’ve been bluffing for years.
“Come after us, and the media and the inner cities will explode!”
Good.
We need some explosions.
The Democrats can watch them from their cells.
Well, the DOJ just gave Strzok a pass on illegal leaks. I suspect the swamp is subsuming Barr now too.
Higher interest? Better good? They don't realize what they're doing???? Are you kidding me? These "people" are in some of the highest and most trusted positions in government and are supposed to have the intelligence and integrity to do their jobs for the country. They violated that trust and I don't care why. There are no excuses for what they did.
This is a very disturbing, if not appalling, comment by Mr. Barr. Makes you wonder about his dedication to getting to the bottom of the biggest scandal in American history.
I wish Barr would do more work and fewer interviews with CBS.
**************
He has plenty of problems within DOJ/FBI that should keep him in DC and away from CBS for a long time to come.
Not very encouraging at all.
I think you’re right. The DOJ investigations appear to be going nowhere.
That was my first thought.
Is he signaling someone? If so who?
Is he telling conspirators they have nothing to worry about? Is he saying this so they let their guard down?
His comments don't bode well for pursuing an investigation.
Watergate was spying on the Dems....
Technically, perhaps not Treason by a strict definition, but let’s not quibble or parse too much.
There’s plenty of blank spaces on the calendar left yet for some brandy new holidays with some good old fashioned neck stretchin’.
What the heck is wrong with conservatives. Liberals would have us locked up and the gallows built before you could say boo. And here we are. Letting them off the hook again.
All paths to a socialist state lead us through violent suppression of conservative thought.
They attempted to interfere, and influence the results of a Presidential election. When that failed, they tried to take down a sitting President. Call it what you will, that’s criminal acts right there, as far as I’m concerned.
Has he had surgery yet to remove his backbone?
And criminal! Not specifically treason? OK, but it's freaking criminal and intent is not a factor. Grrr!
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