AG Barr says public has right to know if gov’t officials ‘put their thumb on the scale’ in Russia probe

(Image: screenshot)

Attorney General William Barr has more questions now than he did before he started investigating the origins of the Russia probe.

Barr revealed in a Fox News interview that he has been “trying to get answers” and believes the American people have a right to know if government officials “put their thumb on the scale” in the beginning stages of the investigation into whether there was any collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

(Video: Fox News)

“I’ve been trying to get answers to the questions and I’ve found that a lot of the answers have been inadequate and some of the explanations I’ve gotten don’t hang together, in a sense I have more questions today than when I first started,” Barr said, speaking to Fox News’ Bill Hemmer from El Salvador in an interview that is scheduled to air on “America’s Newsroom” Friday.

“What doesn’t hang together?” Hemmer asked the attorney general who has reportedly appointed U.S. Attorney John Durham to essentially investigate the investigators.

“Some of the explanations of what occurred,” Barr replied.

“Why does that matter?” the Fox News host questioned.

“People have to find out what the government was doing during that period,” Barr explained. “If we’re worried about foreign influence, for the very same reason we should be worried about whether government officials abuse their power and put their thumb on the scale.”

“I’m not saying that happened but it’s something we have to look at,” he added.

Barr told a Senate Appropriations subcommittee last month that he did believe “spying did occur” on the Trump campaign, announcing that he would be looking into the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation.

Reports surfaced this week that, in fact, Durham has been on the case “for weeks.”

Democrats under House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerry Nadler voted to hold Barr in contempt last week for refusing to comply with a subpoena for the unredacted report from Mueller’s investigation.

Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo told Fox News’s Laura Ingraham this week that Barr’s move to assign special ‘bulldog’ prosecutor Durham to investigate is a sure sign that he thinks something criminal took place even at the outset of Robert Mueller’s probe.

“If I were the Democrats I would be quite worried,” Yoo said.

If Democrats are worried they are certainly finding a lot of hostile ways to channel that energy, as they continue to attack Barr for acting as the president’s “personal attorney.” The mainstream media has backed the critics, with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews blatantly accusing the attorney general of trying to destroy the government.

“It’s an embarrassment to have an attorney general who looks like a Roy Cohn, a guy who will do anything to defend the president and now has become his hitman,” Matthews said. “Not only will he play defense, he’s out to destroy the government, the FBI, everything in order to cover the tracks of the president.”

Trump denied that he asked his attorney general to appoint the federal prosecutor.

(Video: MSNBC)

“No, I didn’t ask him to do that. I didn’t know it,” Trump told reporters outside the White House Tuesday, but added, “I think it’s a great thing that he did it.”

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Frieda Powers

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