If the warrant was in fact issued on the weight of the notorious “Steele dossier,” which was underwritten by the Clinton campaign, then all that followed could fall under the “improper surveillance” rubric, especially if some FBI employees knew it was bogus all along.īut there are some problems with this narrative. Recently revealed text messages between FBI lawyer Lisa Page and then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe show that the issue of biased sources was being hotly contested even days before the warrant application. Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz is near the end of his investigation into possible abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) with respect to targeting former Trump campaign aide Carter Page. Since the FISA warrant was the predicate for subsequent surveillance, the impending IG report potentially will reveal whether it was legitimately obtained. Today's talker: Russians and 'spies' and Trump - oh my! WikiLeaks-founder Julian Assange will be punished for embarrassing the DC establishmentĬrossfire Hurricane: Pull back curtain on FBI's investigation of Donald Trump, Russia Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., tweeted that Barr should “retract his statement immediately or produce specific evidence to back it up.” NBC News’ Chuck Todd said this was a “conspiracy theory” for which there was “ zero factual basis.” Furious Democrats denounced Barr for even raising the issue.

Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, took issue with Barr’s word choice, saying “the word ‘spying’ could cause everybody in the cable news ecosystem to freak out.” And of course they did. On Wednesday Attorney General Bill Barr startled Senators when he said during a budget hearing that he believed that “ spying did occur” during the 2016 presidential race, and that “spying on a political campaign is a big deal.' He tempered his statement by adding “the question is whether it was adequately predicated” and was not ready to say that “improper surveillance occurred ” but he is “concerned about it and looking into it.”

What’s in a word? When the word is spying, it could mean defending American democracy, or trying to undermine it.

Trump spy network