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Attorney General William Barr on Wednesday confirmed that his Justice Department will be reviewing the origins and the methods of investigations into then-candidate Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
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Barr has come under fire by Democrats for his handling of the yet-to-be-released, 400-page final report from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian election interference. He told lawmakers that he believes there was spying into the Trump campaign.
“I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal,” Barr said in testimony during a Senate Appropriations subcommittee’s hearing on the Trump administration’s fiscal 2020 budget proposal.
“I’m not suggesting that those rules were violated, but I think it’s important to look at that. And I’m not talking about the FBI, necessarily, but intelligence agencies more broadly,” Barr said.
Many Republicans on Capitol Hill, especially those closely allied with Trump, have called for an investigation into the beginnings of the government’s Russia probes throughout Mueller’s 22-month probe into Kremlin interference in the 2016 election, potential Russian collusion with Trump’s campaign and possible obstruction of justice by Trump.
Their calls have grown louder in the wake of Barr’s summary of the principal conclusions from Mueller’s yet-to-be-released report, in which Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein concluded that the special counsel did not find sufficient evidence to merit an obstruction charge.
Barr acknowledged that much investigation on this topic has already taken place, and that the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General is still investigating the matter. He explained that his probe would take a holistic look at the investigations, both from government agencies and congressional committees.
“One of the things I want to do is pull together all the information from the various investigations that have gone on, including on the Hill and in the department, and see if there are any remaining questions to be addressed,” Barr said.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., the subcommittee’s ranking member, asked Barr to explain why he was taking this action.
“I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal. Its a big deal,” he said, adding that the Vietnam War generation in which he grew up was very concerned about spying on anti-war Americans by the government.
Shaheen asked Barr to clarify that “you’re not suggesting, though, that spying occurred” within the Trump campaign.
Barr responded: “I think spying did occur.”
The most important question, he added, is “whether it was … adequately predicated. I’m not saying it wasn’t adequately predicated, but I need to explore that.”
Trump, speaking to reporters Wednesday morning before Barr’s testimony began, blasted Mueller’s probe, referring to it as “attempted takedown of a president.”
“What they did was treason,” Trump added.