Barr suggests FBI may have operated in 'bad faith' after inspector general finds no evidence of bias in Russia probe

Attorney General William Barr says he disagrees with the Department of Justice's inspector general about the Trump-Russia investigation, suggesting the FBI may have operated in "bad faith."

The DOJ's inspector general in a report Monday found no evidence that the FBI's investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign's ties to Russia was opened under "political bias or improper motivation," although it found "significant errors" were made.

Barr in an interview with NBC News on Tuesday said he disagrees with the inspector general on "whether there was sufficient predication to open a full-blown counterintelligence investigation specifically using the techniques that they did." He also suggested the FBI may have operated in bad faith, despite the report not finding evidence of bias or improper motivation.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Sign up

"I think there were gross abuses ... and inexplicable behavior that is intolerable in the FBI," Barr said. "I think that leaves open the possibility that there was bad faith."

Barr went on to say that the reason for opening the investigation was "very flimsy."

These comments come after FBI Director Christopher Wray told ABC News that "it's important that the inspector general found that in this particular instance the investigation was opened with appropriate predication and authorization." President Trump subsequently attacked Wray on Twitter, writing, "I don't know what report current director of the FBI Christopher Wray was reading, but it sure wasn't the one given to me."