Barr said he thought that the Trump campaign had been spied on. He provided no basis for his statement. Now the Trump campaign has ratcheted it up a notch by calling it “unlawful spying”. They’re lying about a lie and making it worse. Sad!
Trump campaign email doctors a quote from Barr. He said "spying did occur," not that "unlawful spying did occur." https://t.co/OP4Lwo4n5i pic.twitter.com/Z0sA3pYH0o
— Brendan Nyhan (@BrendanNyhan) April 13, 2019
Trump campaign fundraising by lying about what Barr said. pic.twitter.com/RXM93gzy16
— Philip Bump (@pbump) April 12, 2019
Trump campaign email: “Just this week, Attorney General William Barr said what the President has thought all along, he believes ‘unlawful spying did occur’ against Donald J. Trump's presidential campaign…” pic.twitter.com/5jpyfZhErv
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) April 13, 2019
“Spying” is not a legal word; it’s a loaded political word, signaling conspiracy theorists. Of course Barr knows this (or else he’s clueless about law enforcement). Yet He chose to use it, repeatedly. It was a political sop to Trump and a sure thing the campaign would exploit it. https://t.co/PSpJ1WpgKQ
— Elie Honig (@eliehonig) April 13, 2019
AG Barr said “I believe spying did occur.”
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) April 13, 2019
The word “unlawful” was not part of that quote.
But the sentence in the email is constructed in such a way that the campaign could be referring to what Trump thinks.
So misleading it seems purposefully deceptive.
AG Barr admitted he had no evidence to support his claim that spying on the Trump campaign “did occur.”
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) April 10, 2019
AG Barr must retract his statement immediately or produce specific evidence to back it up.
Perpetuating conspiracy theories is beneath the office of the Attorney General.
Sad! 