2016 ELECTION/ATTORNEY GENERAL/INTELLIGENCE/JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump on Thursday [5-23-19] directed the intelligence community to cooperate with a Justice Department probe into ‘surveillance activities’ during the 2016 presidential election, also granting Attorney General William Barr authority to declassify information related to the investigation into Russian meddling. Trump ‘directed the intelligence community to quickly and fully cooperate with the Attorney General’s investigation into surveillance activities during the 2016 Presidential election,’ according to a White House press statement…Trump has repeatedly called for a counter-investigation into the various probes into the 2016 election, which the president characterized as partisan and unjust ‘presidential harassment.’ During an April hearing before Congress, Barr said he believed ‘spying did occur’ by U.S. intelligence against then-candidate Trump in the lead up to Election Day 2016. Barr further defended the need for greater review beyond the Mueller investigation into 2016, saying on Fox News that ‘no one has really looked at’ the government’s activities during that time.”
–Matthew Choi, “Trump orders intel community to cooperate with Barr probe into 2016 campaign surveillance,” Politico, May 23, 2019 9:27 pm