Attorney General Barr says Trump-Russia probe a ‘baseless travesty intended to sabotage Donald Trump’s presidency’
ATTORNEY General William Barr believes the Russia investigation into Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign was baseless and intended to “sabotage the presidency.”
During an interview with Fox News on Thursday night, Barr said the FBI’s investigation into whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia was “one of the greatest travesties in American history.”
Without offering evidence, Barr said the investigation happened “without any basis.”
“They started this investigation of his campaign. And even more concerning, actually, is what happened after the campaign.”
The attorney general continued: “A whole pattern of events while he was president … to sabotage the presidency … or at least have the effect of sabotaging the presidency.”
Barr didn’t mention that the FBI bureau opened the Russia probe after a Trump campaign adviser claimed to have early knowledge that Russia had dirt on his opponent, Hillary Clinton.
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 election — but he said the investigation did not find sufficient evidence to connect a criminal conspiracy between Trump’s campaign and Russia.
Mueller also examined about a dozen possible instances of obstruction of justice and has said he could not exonerate the president.
Barr has appointed U.S. Attorney John Durham to investigate the investigation, up until Trump’s inauguration.
Durham’s investigation is ongoing, and Barr did not provide any evidence about what Durham has found so far.
He did say the Justice Department has evidence there was “something far more troubling” than just mistakes during the investigation that eventually became special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe.
“My own view is that the evidence shows that we’re not dealing with just the mistakes or sloppiness,” the attorney general said.
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“There was something far more troubling here. We’re going to get to the bottom of it. And if people broke the law and we can establish that with the evidence, they will be prosecuted.”
Barr has been a supporter of Trump since becoming attorney general in February 2019.
Earlier this year, however, Barr said that Trump’s tweets about Justice Department cases made it “impossible” for him to do his job.
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