Attorney General William Barr announced Tuesday he is “reviewing the conduct” of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)’s counterintelligence into the Trump campaign under the Obama administration.
“I am reviewing the conduct of the investigation and trying to get my arms around all the aspects of the counterintelligence investigation that was conducted during the summer of 2016,” Barr said while testifying before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies.
Barr also said he has heard the ongoing Justice Department inspector general investigation into how the DOJ under the Obama administration obtained surveillance warrants on Trump campaign members will wrap up in May or June.
“Hopefully we’ll have some answers from Inspector General [Michael] Horowitz on the issue of the FISA warrants,” he said.
The FBI in October 2016 obtained a surveillance warrant on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, relying heavily on the so-called “pee-dossier,” which was later found to be opposition research funded by the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign.
Barr also expressed willingness to review criminal referrals that are expected to be sent to him from Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), for government officials he believes committed crimes related to the investigation into the Trump campaign.
“If there’s a predicate for an investigation it’ll be conducted,” Barr said.
Nunes said on Sunday five of the referrals name someone and name specific crimes, including lying to Congress, misleading Congress, and leaking classified material.
He said the other three are related to charges of conspiracy to lie to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which grants Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) surveillance warrants.
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