Announcing a bombshell April 9, 68-year-old Atty. Gen. William Barr said he was opening an investigation into surveillance of 72-year-old Donald Trump and his 2016 presidential campaign. Speaking to the Senate Appropriations Committee, Barr made his decision to look into the origins of the Department of Justice [DOJ] and FBI’s surveillance of Trump and his campaign in 2016. Barr gave the “bottom line” March 24 of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s March 22 Final Report on nearly two years probing Russian meddling and alleged Trump Russian collusion. Barr summarized Mueller’s findings saying, President Trump and his inner circle would not be charged with collusion or obstruction of justice. Since Barr’s four-page summary, Democrats have gone wild, especially House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and House Judiciary Chairman Jerold Nadler (D-N.Y.).
Schiff and Nadler see plenty of grounds for Russian collusion and obstruction of justice, despite Mueller’s finding that it didn’t warrant a criminal referral. Moving the goal posts, Schiff and Nadler said they want Muller’s unedited report plus all the underlying evidence, something against the current Special Counsel law. Today’s Special Counsel law prevents Barr from compromising the privacy of individuals once suspected by not charged in nearly two-year-long probe. Democrats don’t accept Mueller’s findings because they’ve built their 2020 campaign strategy on finding Trump guilty of collusion and obstruction. Turing the tables on Democrats, Barr now wants to look into the origins of the 2016 covert surveillance AKA spying on Trump and his associates. Without showing proof, FBI officials said they had probable cause to investigate former Trump foreign policy aid Carter Page.
Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee Dec. 7, 2018, former FBI Director James Comey insisted that he had probable cause beyond the infamous Steele “dossier,” bought-and-paid-for by the Hillary campaign and Democratic National Committee to go to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act [FISA] Court to wiretap former Trump foreign policy aid Carter Page. Barr wants to ascertain who authorized Comey to start investigating the Trump campaign. Former National Security Adviser Susan Rice admitted Sept. 6, 2017 in the House Intelligence Committee that she “unmasked” conversations between Trump campaign officials and former Russian Amb. Sergey Kislyak. Barr wants to find out whether former President Barack Obama authorized Atty. Gen. Loretta Lynch to begin spying on Trump campaign officials in the 2016 presidential campaign.
Testifying April 9 in Senate Appropriations Committee, Barr put the DOJ and FBI on notice that he was looking into the origins of surveillance campaign against Trump. “So you’re not suggesting though, that spying occurred,” asked Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), ranking Democrat on the Appropriations Committee. “I think spying did occur,” Bar said. “But the question is whether it was adequately predicated and I am not suggesting there it wasn’t adequately predicated,” said Barr. Deciding to open a probe into DOJ and FBI surveillance of the Trump campaign, Barr is absolutely saying something improper went on. If nothing improper didn’t go on, why would Barr open a probe into potentially spying at the DOJ and FBI? When Barr talks about a “predicate,” her’s referring to “probable cause” for spying on the campaign. Trump contends the DOJ and FBI illegally spied on his campaign.
After the Mueller investigation ended March 22, essentially acquitting Trump, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said he would open a probe into DOJ and FBI behavior in the 2016 campaign. Graham believes the DOJ and FBI acted improperly, investigating Trump to help the campaign of Hillary Rodham Clinton. “It was started illegally,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “Everything about it was crooked. Every single thing about it. There were dirty cops,” Trump said. What they did was treason,” referring tapping his phones and listening in on conversations between Trump campaign officials and the Russian ambassador. Trump called the Mueller investigation a “witch hunt” from the get go, finally vindicated when Mueller released his report. Barr said he was “going back to the origins of exactly where this all started.”
Democrats pushed back at Barr’s statement that the Trump campaign was spied on in 2016. Asked whether he had evidence of wrongdoing at the DOJ and FBI, Barr said he didn’t. “I have no specific evidence that I would cite right now. I’d have some questions about it,” Barr told the Senate Appropriations Committee. “The top law enforcement officer of the country should not casually suggest that those under the purview engaged in ‘spying’ on a political campaign,” said Schiff. Schiff is the first to say the government was justified spying on the Trump campaign. Charging, trying and convicting Trump of collusion and obstruction of justice, Schiff’s the last person to lecture Barr on the propriety of jumping to conclusions. Opening up a probe of the Obama White House, DOJ and FBI, Barr has turned the tables on Democrats, just when they all talked of impeaching Trump.
