FBI may have acted in 'bad faith' in Russia probe: Barr NBC interview today

[anatta]

Attorney General William Barr on Tuesday discarded a key finding of the 435-page report released by the Justice Department's watchdog, saying in an interview that the FBI may have acted in "bad faith" when they carried out an investigation into President Donald Trump's campaign in 2016.

"I think our nation was turned on its head for three years, I think, based on a completely bogus narrative that was largely fanned and hyped by an irresponsible press, and I think that there were gross abuses of FISA and inexplicable behavior that isn't tolerable in the FBI," Barr told NBC News.

Barr excoriated the FBI for making mistakes and omissions as they sought to surveil former Trump campaign aide Carter Page, in line with the findings of the Horowitz report.

But Barr took his criticism further, telling NBC that the FBI could have acted maliciously as they continued to seek out surveillance of the Trump campaign despite certain pieces of evidence that had been used to stand it up in court -- like elements of the intelligence gathered by Christopher Steele -- falling apart.


"They not only didn't tell the court that what they had been relying on was completely rubbish, they actually started putting in things to bolster the Steele report," Barr said. "That's hard to explain. The core statement in my opinion by the IG is that these irregularities, these misstatements, these omissions were not satisfactorily explained. I think that leaves open the possibility to infer bad faith."

"I think it's premature now to reach a judgment on that but I think that further work has to be done and that's what Durham is doing," he continued.

The inspector general can only compel DOJ employees to cooperate with his investigation, and Barr described his protocols as "very deferential."

"[Horowitz's] approach is to say, if I get an explanation from the people I'm investigating that is not unreasonable on its face, then I will accept it as long as there's not contradictory testimonial or documentary evidence...
And all he said is people gave me an explanation. And I didn't find anything to contradict it. So I don't have a basis for saying that there was improper motive. But he hasn't decided the issue of improper motive," Barr said.

Barr told NBC that he had confidence in Wray and believed he was "working hard to address the problems of the past."
Barr appeared to ding Wray's reaction to the report and side with Trump, adding that "we can't ignore the abuses of the past and appear to be justifying them or minimizing them."

Barr, as the head of the Justice Department, oversees the FBI.

Barr also reiterated his opinion that the FBI did not have enough evidence to open up a full investigation into the Trump campaign in 2016 -- which diverges from the conclusion reached by Horowitz.
According to the Horowitz report, the FBI investigation -- codenamed Crossfire Hurricane -- was opened exclusively on a tip to the FBI from an Australian diplomat that George Papadopoulos, then a foreign policy aide on the Trump campaign, had displayed knowledge of a possible plan by the Russians to release information damaging to Hillary Clinton.

In the interview, Barr dismissed Papadopoulos as a "28-year-old campaign volunteer" and suggested that the information he communicated could have been conflated with contemporaneous news reports about Russian hacking.

Papadopoulos has said that he actually received the information on the Russians possessing "dirt" on Clinton from a Maltese professor who is said to be connected to Russian intelligence.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/10/polit...obe/index.html

[Althea]

LMFAO

[anatta]

arr issued a statement soon after the inspector general report was released Monday, disputing aspects of it and criticizing the Russia probe. He said the case was initiated “on the thinnest of suspicions that, in my view, were insufficient to justify the steps taken.” Durham also issued a statement in response to the inspector general report noting his office disagreed “with some of the report’s conclusions as to predication and how the FBI case was opened.”

The FBI had opened the investigation in July 2016, after receiving information from an Australian diplomat who alleged George Papadopoulos, a Trump campaign aide, had “suggested the Trump team had received some kind of suggestion from Russia” that Moscow could anonymously release damaging information about Clinton.

By the Australians’ telling, Papadopoulos had made that claim before it was publicly known Russia had hacked Democratic emails, which it would release during the campaign. The tip, though vague, was viewed as a “tipping point,” former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe told inspector general investigators, and bureau leaders felt they had no choice but to open a case.

Barr asserted in the interviews that he felt the FBI was using a “suggestion of a suggestion” to initiate a full investigation, and officials there seemed to have the idea that Papadopoulos’s comment “must reflect preknowledge of the hack.” He said that was “a bridge too far,” because the campaign adviser could have been passing along speculation that Russia had hacked the private server Clinton used while she was secretary of state.

“The proper response,” Barr said, “was to talk to the campaign.”

In the intervening months, the FBI would use informants to try to talk to Trump campaign advisers and — starting in October 2016 — apply for a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court warrant to monitor Carter Page, then a former Trump campaign adviser. The inspector general found serious omissions and other faults in those applications.

As he has in the past, he again asserted the Trump campaign was “clearly spied upon.” Wray and other law enforcement leaders have said they would not use that term to describe court-approved surveillance activities.

He also alleged that, even as the bureau turned up exculpatory, rather than incriminatory, information, officials kept it from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and pressed ahead with their investigation. He took particular aim at a dossier that the FBI used to help acquire warrants, which was prepared by a former British intelligence officer hired by an opposition research firm working for a lawyer for the Clinton campaign.

The dossier, Barr asserted, was a “complete sham,” and the FBI did not relay as much to the court.

“When their entire case collapsed, what did they do?” Barr said. “They kept on investigating the president, well into his administration.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...d9e_story.html

[archives]

Of course, Trump surely told billy to get out infront of it, attempt to change the narrative, he makes it sound so judicious and pompous, making sure he throws in all the right buzz words, "steele dossier," "spying," etc., but he is just perpetuating the Trump myths surely at Trump's direction

The timing says it all, Barr and Durhamn supposedly felt they had to immediately comment on the IG report, and when was the last time the sitting AG or the head of an investigation commented on an ongoing investigation

billy is just doing what billy was hired to do, covering Trump's ass

[Truth Detector]

LMFAO

Looking at a mirror I see.

[Tranquillus in Exile]

[Barr] again asserted the Trump campaign was “clearly spied upon.” Wray and other law enforcement leaders have said they would not use that term to describe court-approved surveillance activities.

So Barr is arguing Trump's case - witch hunt, spying etc. Is anyone surprised at that? He's Trump's man.

I'm more interested in what Durham may have that Horowitz didn't. We don't know what it's worth because Durham hasn't told us anything specific. Until he does, everybody should pipe down. But they won't.

[Truth Detector]

Of course, Trump surely told billy to get out infront of it, ..................blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah

[Truth Detector]

So Barr is arguing Trump's case - witch hunt, spying etc. Is anyone surprised at that? He's Trump's man.

Funny how you were perfectly fine when Holder was Obama's butt boy. STFU you whiny hypocrite.

[Controlled Opposition]

So Barr is arguing Trump's case - witch hunt, spying etc. Is anyone surprised at that? He's Trump's man.

I'm more interested in what Durham may have that Horowitz didn't. We don't know what it's worth because Durham hasn't told us anything specific. Until he does, everybody should pipe down. But they won't.

It is all an attempted soft coup d'etat. It is time to recognize that.

[Darth Omar]

Of course, Trump surely told billy to get out infront of it, attempt to change the narrative, he makes it sound so judicious and pompous, making sure he throws in all the right buzz words, "steele dossier," "spying," etc., but he is just perpetuating the Trump myths surely at Trump's direction

The timing says it all, Barr and Durhamn supposedly felt they had to immediately comment on the IG report, and when was the last time the sitting AG or the head of an investigation commented on an ongoing investigation

billy is just doing what billy was hired to do, covering Trump's ass

Barr was commenting on the IG report.

And now, finally, everyone is on the same page with the Dossier: it's junk. Even worse, it’s very likely intended to divide the country, by the Russians.

And all these characters *knew* it was junk while Democrats and their media minions used it for the Trump/Russian conspiracy theory that dominated the news cycle for two full years. Keep in mind this is the FBI we’re talking about.

Yet they stood idly by if they didn’t actually encourage it. If you don’t see a problem with that I don’t know what to say.

[Tranquillus in Exile]

It is all an attempted soft coup d'etat. It is time to recognize that.

The IG's report said they found no evidence of any such thing. So is Horowitz and his team in on it? They "must" be.

This is following the typical trajectory of a conspiracy theory. You know how I relish those.

[Controlled Opposition]

The IG's report said they found no evidence of any such thing. So is Horowitz and his team in on it? They "must" be.

This is following the typical trajectory of a conspiracy theory. You know how I relish those.

Yes, and this is my opportunity to call you a conspiracy theorist. The term usually applies to anyone with whom we disagree.

I am surprised that you put such faith in the people you named. We know that the FBI lied to the FISA court, which is a rubber-stamping "court" anyway.

[anatta]

So Barr is arguing Trump's case - witch hunt, spying etc. Is anyone surprised at that? He's Trump's man.

I'm more interested in what Durham may have that Horowitz didn't. We don't know what it's worth because Durham hasn't told us anything specific. Until he does, everybody should pipe down. But they won't.

we DO know Durham has said he disagrees with Horowitz regarding the predicate

we also found out there WAS SPYINg ( confidentia linformants recorded with 4 Trump aides) ans we know the FBI did NOT use that exculpatory info for the FIASs

[Darth Omar]

[anatta]

Schiff is 100% full of shit. did you catch the Article announcement today?
he was his usual overdramatic self "cant let the president meddle in elections again"