WaPo: FBI Director Says Probe of Trump Campaign Wasn’t “Spying”

WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 07: Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray testifies before the Senate Appropriations Committee on the bureau's FY 2020 budget in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill May 07, 2019 in Washington, DC. Members of the Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Subcommittee questioned Wray about the FBI's independence and impartiality in its investigation into foreign influence in the 2016 election and elections going forward. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

FBI Director Christopher Wray disagrees with the claim by President Trump and Attorney General William Barr that the FBI’s investigation of the 2016 Trump campaign amounted to “spying,” reports the Washington Post.

“That’s not the term I would use,” Wray told Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) at a budget hearing Tuesday, in response to her question about scrutiny of the Trump campaign.

Wray cautiously distanced himself from Barr, who told a Senate hearing last month that “spying did occur, yes,” and called it “a big deal.”

FBI director Christopher Wray tells Congress he has no evidence of ‘spying’ on Trump campaign – The Washington Post https://t.co/RiRGE7SO9V
— Margaret9 Farrell (@Margaret91448) May 7, 2019

“Shaheen said she was ‘very concerned’ about Barr’s use of the term. Spying, she said, ‘is a very loaded word. It conjures a criminal connotation,’” the Post says.

When Shaheen pressed Wray about whether there’s evidence of “illegal surveillance” of Trump campaign officials or staffers, he reluctantly said no.

“I don’t think I personally have any evidence of that sort,” Wray said.