Senators ask AG for briefing on Obama administration spying
Attorney General William Barr recently stunned senators in a hearing by declaring he believes the Obama administration spied on the 2016 Trump campaign and is investigating the matter. Now, two top GOP senators are asking for a briefing on the investigation. Sens. Charles Grassley, chairman of the Finance Committee, and Ron Johnson, chairman of the committee on Homeland […]
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Attorney General William Barr testifies to the House Appropriations Committee on April 9, 2019 (Screenshot)
Attorney General William Barr recently stunned senators in a hearing by declaring he believes the Obama administration spied on the 2016 Trump campaign and is investigating the matter.
Now, two top GOP senators are asking for a briefing on the investigation.
Sens. Charles Grassley, chairman of the Finance Committee, and Ron Johnson, chairman of the committee on Homeland Security and Government, dispatched a letter Thursday to Barr asking his staff to set up a briefing.
They noted the obvious concern about using the government to spy on political campaigns, which he described as “a big deal.”
“We share your concerns about these activities, and are troubled by the apparent unauthorized disclosures of surveillance efforts and other classified information during the time period,” they wrote.
The senators also are concerned about “certain text messages that may show potential attempts by the FBI to conduct surveillance of President-elect Trump’s transition team.”
“In text messages exchanged between former FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok and former FBI Attorney Lisa Page, the two discussed the possibility of developing ‘potential relationships’ at a November 2016 FBI briefing for presidential transition team staff,” they explained.
“Specifically, it appears they discussed sending ‘the CI guy’ to assess an unnamed person(s) ‘demeanor’ but were concerned because it might be unusual for him to attend.”
Strzok vowed in a text message to Page to “stop” Trump from being elected but referred to a “backup plan” in case they failed.
In a message referenced by the senators, Strzok wrote: “Talking with Bill. Do we want Joe to go with Evanina instead of Charlie for a variety of reasons?”
Page was doubtful.
“Would it be unusual to have (sic) show up again?”
Strzok: “Or, he’s ‘the CI guy.’ Same might [sic] make sense. He can assess if thete [sic] are any news [sic] Qs, or different demeanor. If Katie’s husband is there, he can see if there are people we can develop for potential relationships.”
The senators told Barr: “The nature of these communications, and the precise purpose of any attempts to ‘develop relationships’ with Trump or Pence transition team staff are not immediately clear. Were these efforts done to gain better communication between the respective parties, or were the briefings used as intelligence gathering operations?”
Also, did those activities carry on after the inauguration, and, if so, why?
“Any improper FBI surveillance activities that were conducted before or after the 2016 election must be brought to light and properly addressed,” they wrote.
Further, news agencies somehow had access to “sensitive information” at the time, and the DOJ’s inspector general already has expressed concern about “the volume and extent of unauthorized media contacts by FBI personnel.”
Those leaks are “unacceptable,” the senators said.
The senators want to know about the review of FBI surveillance of the Trump campaign and others, briefings provided to the Trump and Pence teams, and an explanation of “what steps have you taken to investigate whether DOJ or FBI officials had unauthorized contacts with the media during the Russia investigation.”
The Hill reported: “Republicans, including Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (S.C.), are eager to turn the page from special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian election meddling. They are digging in for their own investigations into other Obama-era scandals, including the handling of the probe into Hillary Clinton’s private email server and a controversial research dossier compiled against then-candidate Trump.”
A blogger for the Twitter news-aggregator Twitchy noted the letter “is filled with details and new information that should worry members of the Obama administration and the so-called ‘Deep State.'”
See Barr’s comment about Obama spying in an April 10 Senate hearing:
.@SenatorShaheen asks Barr about reports he’s launched an investigation into officials who investigated Trump
“I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal,” he says, echoing baseless right-win conspiracy theories. “I think spying did occur.”
Shaheen is left speechless pic.twitter.com/G1fcAF2Irh
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 10, 2019
“This is something that I was confident was gonna happen when Barr was confirmed,” said radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh. “He knows there was spying. He knows who the spies were. He knows who the informants were who were planted in the Trump campaign.
“We finally got the guy who’s gonna dig into this. … This guy cares about the judicial system. … He understands exactly what happened here, as we all do.”
“They’re quaking in their boots in the homes of [James] Comey and [Andrew] McCabe and [John] Brennan.
“Any investigation that is worth its weight in salt is going to reveal media complicity,” Limbaugh added.
The Russia probe started by the FBI and DOJ turned into special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Trump’s campaign, and he concluded there was no collusion.
What is already known is that the Mueller probe was sparked by Democratic operatives in the former administration. Justice Department and FBI officials took an opposition research document funded partly by Hillary Clinton and used its “salacious” and “unverified” claims as court evidence to obtain a warrant to spy on the Trump campaign.
It was the Obama administration weaponizing the government against a political opponent, critics charged.
Barr was asked why was the review of the investigation was being done.
“For the same reason we’re worried about foreign influence in elections,” he explained.
“I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal, a big deal. The generation I grew up in which was the Vietnam war period people were all concerned about spying on antiwar people and so forth by the government. There were a lot of rules put in place to make sure there’s an adequate basis before our law enforcement agencies get involve in political surveillance.
“I’m not suggesting that those rules were violated but I think it’s important to look at that, and I’m not just talking about the FBI necessarily, but intelligence agencies more broadly.”
He was pressed, “You’re not suggesting though, that spying occurred?”
Barr said: “I don’t … well … I guess you could … I think spying did occur. Yes, I think spying did occur.”
The Senate chamber went silent.
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