ATTORNEY GENERAL/FBI/SPYGATE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The F.B.I. director, Christopher A. Wray, defended the bureau on Tuesday [5-7-19] amid another round of accusations that agents abused their powers in investigating the Trump campaign, saying he was unaware of any illegal surveillance and refusing to call their work ‘spying.’ Mr. Wray’s defense of his agency put him in direct conflict with Attorney General William P. Barr, who told lawmakers last month that he believed the F.B.I. engaged in spying on the Trump campaign…Mr. Barr’s politically charged description of lawful F.B.I. tactics has helped stoke claims that agents might have been acting wrongfully. Mr. Barr’s use of the ‘fine English word,’ as he put it recently, echoes accusations made by the president and his allies. Typically, law enforcement officials do not refer to surveillance as spying. As part of the F.B.I.’s investigation into Russian interference, agents began investigating two Trump campaign foreign policy advisers, George Papadopoulos and Carter Page. In July 2016, the F.B.I. learned that Mr. Papadopoulos had told an Australian diplomat about a Russian offer to help the Trump campaign by releasing thousands of hacked Democratic emails.”
–Adam Goldman, “F.B.I. Director Defends Bureau Against Spying Accusations: ‘That’s Not the Term I Would Use’,” The New York Times online, May 7, 2019