FILE PHOTO: U.S. House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (R-CA) talks to reporters after testimony from Acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Joseph Maguire about the handling of the whistleblower complaint on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., September 26, 2019. REUTERS/Leah Millis
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff shredded Attorney General William Barr after the AG attacked the FBI.
After the IG report was released, Barr said in a statement, “The Inspector General’s report now makes clear that the FBI launched an intrusive investigation of a U.S. presidential campaign on the thinnest of suspicions that, in my view, were insufficient to justify the steps taken. It is also clear that, from its inception, the evidence produced by the investigation was consistently exculpatory. Nevertheless, the investigation and surveillance were pushed forward for the duration of the campaign and deep into President Trump’s administration.”
Chairman Schiff replied in a statement provided to PoliticusUSA:
According to the IG, the FBI’s initial investigation had a sufficient factual basis. It was opened for an authorized purpose — to protect against a potential national security threat or federal crime — and in compliance with FBI policy. The IG found no evidence that political bias influenced the decisions of senior intelligence or law enforcement officials.
The IG’s investigation did identify issues and errors in the FISA process, including potential misconduct, and I understand that Director Wray is implementing each of the IG’s recommendations and more. Such remedial actions should be appropriately handled by career officials, away from the political arena.
In this respect, the Attorney General’s repeated and obviously partisan interventions are disturbing and damaging to the independence of our law enforcement and intelligence services. The Attorney General’s gratuitous attack today on the FBI, echoed by a statement from his handpicked investigator, is designed to undermine the independent conclusions of the Inspector General. It is further evidence — if we needed any after Barr’s misrepresentation of the Mueller report — that AG Barr is not in pursuit of the truth, but rather doing the President’s political bidding.
Barr’s agenda is to act as Trump’s personal lawyer. The Attorney General lied about the IG report to make it fit into the narrative that Trump is trying to sell. Chairman Schiff was correct. Like his boss, Barr is interfering for partisan political purposes. William Barr isn’t an attorney general. He is a Trump rubber stamp who got called out by Adam Schiff.
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