Analysis: Barr’s 'spying' comment has reached its predictably ridiculous outcome. Trump distorting it beyond recognition.
By Aaron Blake Aaron Blake Senior political reporter, writing for The Fix Email Bio Follow April 15 at 11:33 AM One of the most conspicuous through lines of the Trump presidency is his Cabinet officials adopting his controversial and often incorrect talking points. Whether by design or even just a subconscious desire to please the boss, they’ll often say things that allow President Trump to latch on to their words and mislead the country.
In at least two appeals in recent days, the Trump campaign has used Barr’s much-criticized comments to solicit donations. A text message spotlighted by The Washington Post’s Philip Bump on Friday claimed that “AG Barr believes the Obama Admin illegally spied on Pres Trump.
— Jake Tapper April 13, 2019 Fundraising emails are where nuance goes to die. But even by the very low standards of these missives, these are ridiculously bad and wrong. For however much criticism Barr came in for last week, he never actually said he believed there was illegal spying on the Trump campaign. In fact, he made clear he didn’t know.
To say that “Barr believes the Obama Admin illegally spied on Pres Trump” or that Barr “believes ‘unlawful spying did occur’” is simply false — and egregiously so. He doesn’t appear to have ever uttered the quote attributed to him.
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