On Wednesday, Attorney General William Barr told lawmakers that
But never mind that right now…
Since Barr provided almost no explanation for « spying » allegation, let’s try to figure out what he’s talking about.
The best guess I can come up with begins with a man named Carter Page. Page, for a time in the Trump campaign, served as a foreign policy adviser to the presidential candidate. Page stepped away from the campaign in September 2016, after articles highlighted his Russian ties. In October 2016, the FBI applied for a warrant to surveil Page under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The warrant was approved. And subsequently renewed three times.
Based on that very simple summation, you could conclude, I suppose, that « spying did occur » on a member of Trump’s presidential campaign. But a fuller picture raises questions about that sort of over-simplification.
According to the FISA warrant for Page, a redacted version of which was released in July 2018, the FBI had been keeping an eye on Page for several years — dating back to at least 2013, when it learned that Russians were trying to recruit American operatives and that Page might be a target. The application also included information from the opposition research document put together by former British spy Christopher Steele, alleging that on a trip to Russia in July 2016, Page met with two Russian officials to discuss lifting US sanctions against the country. (Page denies the meeting.)
« The FBI believes that Page has been collaborating and conspiring with the Russian government, » the application stated, adding that « there is probable cause that such activities involve or are about to involve violations of the criminal statutes of the United States. »
Then there is the matter of how one gets a FISA warrant. In short, it’s not easy. There are 11 judges — all appointed by the Supreme Court chief justice — who sit on something called the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and decide whether or not law enforcement has shown enough evidence to justify the very serious matter of spying on an American citizen.
