WILLIAM BARR, AND SPYGATE
Spygate
In April 2019, Barr stated that he thought "spying did occur" against the Trump 2016 presidential campaign.[243] The remark echoed unsubstantiated claims made by Trump and his supporters that the Trump campaign had been unfairly targeted or spied on by the FBI; Trump described it as an "attempted coup".[244][243][245][246][247]
There is no evidence that government officials engaged in "spying" on the Trump campaign.[245]
Barr later said he was not sure what spying had occurred and he did clarify what he meant by "spying".[243]
He also said he had no evidence of wrong-doing.[243][246] Democrats criticized Barr's statement as "incendiary", saying the statement was intended to please Trump and that the statement lacked credibility following Barr's misrepresentation of the Mueller report in March 2019.[243][245][246]
Barr said he thought there was not "any pejorative connotation at all" to the term spying.[248]
At the time, Barr said he would not launch an investigation into the origins of the FBI probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.[245]
FBI officials denied Barr's claims about spying.[249] FBI Director Christopher A. Wray said he was unaware of any illegal surveillance by the FBI; he rejected the description of "spying".[250]
Subsequently, Trump retweeted a far-right pundit who said the FBI had "no leadership" and that Wray was "protecting the same gang that tried to overthrow the president in an illegal coup".[251]
Trump said Wray's statement was "ridiculous".[251] Former FBI Director James Comey rebutted Barr, saying "The FBI doesn't spy. The FBI investigates."[244]
In May 2019, Barr asserted, "Government power was used to spy on American citizens."[248]
Barr did not identify the specific actions prior to the 2016 election that he considered spying.[248]