Attorney General William Barr said a “bogus narrative” about the Trump-Russia controversy has done a disservice to the country.
One day after the release of a Justice Department watchdog assessment of the Russia investigation, Barr accused the media of spreading a misleading narrative about President Trump.
“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,” Barr told NBC News’ Pete Williams on Tuesday.
Upon the release of Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report on Monday, much of the media focus was placed on how Horowitz determined there was sufficient cause for the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign.
But Barr, who is overseeing a separate inquiry into the origins of Russia investigation being conducted by U.S. John Durham, said the limits inherent in an inspector general review, including jurisdiction and inability to compel testimony, means it would be premature to make a final determination on the matter.
The focus of Horowitz’s investigation was into allegations of surveillance abuse against onetime Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. Horowitz found errors and omissions were made in the process but did not establish that political bias tainted officials’ actions over the course of the Russia investigation.
Barr, whom Democrats have accused of going out of his way to defend Trump and attack his political rivals, was more explicitly critical in his appraisal of the FBI’s actions.
“There were gross abuses of FISA and inexplicable behavior that is intolerable in the FBI,” he continued. “I think that leaves open the possibility that there was bad faith.”
The inspector general made recommendations for the FBI and the FISA process. FBI Director Christopher Wray ordered the FBI to take more than 40 corrective steps to address the inspector general’s recommendations.
In a statement Monday, Barr asserted that Horowitz’s report showed the “FBI launched an intrusive investigation of a U.S. presidential campaign on the thinnest of suspicions.”
