Campaign Action
Attorney General William Barr lobbed a verbal grenade at the FBI last month during his Senate testimony. "I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal—it’s a big deal," Barr told senators during sworn testimony, explaining that he planned to look into the matter even though he had no underlying evidence of wrongdoing.
But Barr now says he didn't intend to use the word “spying” in a derogatory way when he dropped the term Donald Trump has been weaponizing for years to rile up his rabid base.
"I don't think the word 'spying' has any pejorative connotation at all," Barr told Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse Wednesday during his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. "I think 'spying' is a good English word," he said, adding that he uses it frequently, and so does the media. "It's commonly used in the press to describe authorized activity," he argued—as if all good law enforcement professionals take their cues from press coverage.
"But it's not commonly used by the department," Whitehouse countered, referring to the Department of Justice.
"It's commonly used by me," Barr shot back, ending the exchange with a detestable smirk, as if to say, Yep, I'm shilling for the president and you can't touch me.
As former federal prosecutor and FBI official Chuck Rosenberg noted on MSNBC in response to Barr’s characterization, “We don't in the industry use that word to describe how we exercise that lawful authority.”
Barr, a former CIA guy, knows that, and he’s damn well lying about it, with a smile to boot.
Watch the exchange below.