FBI Director Christopher Wray contradicted Attorney General William Barr today saying he wouldn’t use the term “spying” to describe the actions taken by the FBI against the Trump campaign during the 2016 election.
During a Senate appropriations subcommittee hearing, Wray replied, “Well, that’s not the term I would use” when asked about Barr’s use of the word “spying.”
“Well, I mean, look, lots of people have different colloquial phrases. I believe that the FBI is engaged in investigative activity and part of investigative activity includes surveillance activity of different shapes and sizes,” Wray said.
“To me, the key question is making sure that it is done by the book, consistent with our lawful authorities,” the FBI director continued. “That’s the key question. Different people use different colloquial phrases.”
FBI Director Christopher Wray on "spying": "That's not the term I would use." https://t.co/0pN3HhLpgf pic.twitter.com/sCZwPl9c6S
— The Hill (@thehill) May 7, 2019
Last month, Democrats lost their minds when Barr said that “spying did occur” during a House Appropriations Committee hearing.
Barr recently doubled down on his claims, telling Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) he wouldn’t stop using the term “spying” to describe what happened to the Trump campaign.
Whitehouse asked, “You used the word spying about authorized DOJ investigative activities…In the entirety of your previous career at the Department of Justice including as attorney general have you ever referred to authorized department investigative activities, officially or publicly, as spying?”
“I’m not going to abjure the use of the word ‘spying,’” Barr said. “My first job was in CIA. I don’t think the word ‘spying’ has any pejorative connotation at all.”
He continued, “I think spying is a good English word that, in fact, doesn’t have synonyms because it is the broadest word incorporating really all forms of covert intelligence collection, so I’m not going to back off the word ‘spying,’ except I will say I’m not suggesting any pejorative and I use it frequently…”
Barr pointed out that many members of the media use the term “spying” to refer to authorized surveillance activities.
“Frankly, we went back and looked at press usage and up until all the faux outrage a couple of weeks ago, it’s commonly used in the press to refer to authorized activities,” he said.
“It’s not commonly used by the Department,” Whitehouse said.
Barr replied, “It’s commonly used by me.”
Watch the epic exchange below:
