Attorney General William Barr on Wednesday qualified his criticism of the FBI for failing to fully warn President Trump’s 2016 campaign of Russia efforts to undermine the last election.
“Sen. [John] Cornyn asked me about defensive briefings before, and as I said, there were different kinds of them. I was referring to the kind where you are told of a specific target, you’re a specific target. And I have been told at the break that a lesser kind of briefing, a security briefing that generally discusses general threats apparently was given to the campaign in August,” Barr said of the Texas Republican during his appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Cornyn had earlier pressed Barr on whether federal law enforcement gave the Trump campaign a defensive briefing before January 2017 based on their counterintelligence investigation, so associates and aides could be “on their guard and be vigilant” about potential Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Barr told Cornyn it was his “understanding” that the campaign had not been informed of the risks Russia posed.
“That failure to provide a defensive briefing to the Trump campaign, that would be an extraordinary or notable failure. Would you agree?” Cornyn asked.
“I think under these circumstances one of the things that I can’t fathom [is] why it did not happen,” Barr replied. “If you’re concerned about interference in the election and you have substantial people involved in the campaign who were former U.S. attorneys, you had three former U.S. attorneys there in the campaign. I don’t understand why the bureau would not have gone and given a defensive briefing.”
Gregory Brower, assistant director of the FBI’s Office of Congressional Affairs, wrote Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the previous chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, in October 2017 to confirm “an experienced FBI counterintelligence agent” advised both the Trump campaign and that of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in August 2016 about Russia.
Barr was asked to testify before the Senate panel after the release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report compiling his findings from the federal Russia inquiry.
