Surely, Bill Barr _ in his second tenure as U.S. attorney general _ knows the difference between legitimate court-approved counterintelligence surveillance and nefarious-sounding "spying" on American citizens.
Why, then, did he willfully conflate the two in Senate testimony this week, declaring, "I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal"?
Probably because the comment helped feed President Trump's pernicious conspiracy-mongering, that the Deep State "illegally" targeted him and committed "treason."
The truth: The FBI's surveillance of Trump aide Carter Page began in October 2016 _ after he left the campaign, but well into its legitimate probe into the Kremlin's election meddling.
Four separate judges under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act authorized and reauthorized warrants on Page.
That Trump sees FBI efforts to connect the dots of people linked to his campaign and Russian operatives as "treason" is to be expected. For Barr to give credibility to a smear of his own Justice Department and FBI is outrageous.
