Bill Barr entered the day facing meaningful questions about his credibility and political independence. Those questions are considerably louder now.
About a year ago, Donald Trump seemed a little more agitated than usual, and it led the beleaguered president to create a new conspiracy theory. In fact, it was one of Trump’s favorite kind of conspiracy theories: one in which he’s the victim.
The Republican argued in May 2018 that during his presidential campaign, the Justice Department may have utilized “spies” inside his political operation. In the days and weeks that followed, the conspiracy theory went through a couple of iterations, but Trump was nevertheless delighted to tout what he called “Spygate.”
It was, of course, a very odd tale, which even some congressional Republicans had no use for. Trump’s most shameless and sycophantic supporters still occasionally throw around the allegation, but most know not to take it seriously.
It was against this backdrop that we heard Senate testimony from Trump’s attorney general this morning.
When the New Hampshire Democrat asked, “You’re not suggesting that spying occurred?” Barr paused before ultimately replying, “I think spying did occur.
