https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2019/05/07/politics/wray-senate-hearing-spying/index.html FBI Director Wray distances himself from Barr's use of 'spying' on Trump campaign By David Shortell, CNN Washington(CNN) FBI Director Christopher Wray told a Senate panel Tuesday that the bureau is "working to help" Attorney General William Barr as he reviews the origins of the Russia investigation, but distanced himself from Barr's use of the phrase "spying" at a separate hearing last month. "Well that's not the term I would use," Wray said. "Lots of people have different colloquial phrases," he added to a Senate appropriations subcommittee. "I believe that the FBI is engaged in investigative activity and part of investigative activity includes surveillance activity of different shapes and sizes. To me the key question is making sure that it's done by the book consistent with our lawful authorities." The period of time has come under scrutiny as President Donald Trump and his allies have focused attention on the use of government surveillance, referring to the story as "Spygate." Appearing before the same Senate panel in April, Barr said "I think spying did occur" on Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. Wray said he and Barr were staying in "fairly close contact" on the subject. "Now that the special counsel investigation is completed and having only recently returned to the department the attorney general is seeking to understand better the circumstances at the department and the FBI relating to how this investigation started and we're working to help him get that understanding. I think that's part of his job and part of mine," Wray said. The Justice Department's inspector general is also reviewing the issue. Asked by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat, if he had any evidence of illegal surveillance by the FBI into the 2016 presidential campaigns or people associated with the campaigns, Wray said, "I don't think I personally have any evidence of that sort." Barr drew immediate criticism for his use of the term "spying" from Democrats,who said that the attorney general was mischaracterizing the FBI's counterintelligence investigation in an effort to please Trump. Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, Barr defended his use of the word, telling lawmakers it was done "off the cuff" and calling backlash to it "faux outrage." "I don't think the word spying has any pejorative connotation at all," Barr said. "I think 'spying' is a good English word that in fact doesn't have synonyms because it is the broadest word incorporating really all forms of covert intelligence collection." In March 2018, amid calls by Republican lawmakers for a second special counsel to investigate how the Russia investigation began, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions revealed that he had designated a sitting US attorney to look into allegations that the FBI abused its powers in surveilling former Trump foreign policy aide Carter Page, among other issues. At the same time, the office of the DOJ inspector general, Michael Horowitz, confirmed it would "review information that was known to the DOJ and the FBI at the time the applications were filed from or about an alleged FBI confidential source" and "review the DOJ's and FBI's relationship and communications with the alleged source as they relate to the (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court) applications." A US official last month could not explain to CNN how the investigation by the US attorney, John Huber, factored into the Barr review. Barr said he expected Horowitz's review will be completed in May or June.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/tr...tor-wray-for-protecting-russia-probe-gang.amp Trump takes swipe at FBI Director Wray for ‘protecting’ Russia probe ‘gang’ By Brooke Singman | Fox News President Trump took a swipe at his own FBI director overnight as he echoed allegations that Christopher Wray is protecting members of the bureau who, in the words of one critic, worked to “overthrow” him. The president, sending a signal about his apparently dimming view toward the sitting bureau boss, tweeted comments recently made by the head of conservative watchdog Judicial Watch, Tom Fitton, on Fox Business Network’s “Lou Dobbs Tonight.” “’The FBI has no leadership,'" Trump quoted Fitton as saying. "'The Director is protecting the same gang that tried to overthrow the President through an illegal coup.’ (Recommended by previous DOJ) @TomFitton @JudicialWatch." The president added Fitton's comment that “’as long as President Trump is president, his opposition will use every tool, and misuse every tool available, to make his life miserable.’” Fitton's comments, and Trump's promotion of them, were aimed in part at congressional Democrats who have been ramping up Trump administration probes in the wake of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report. This includes a new effort to hold Attorney General Bill Barr in contempt of Congress for not turning over an unredacted version of that report and underlying materials. But the swipe at Wray suggests Trump views his FBI director with caution as Barr pursues his own review into the origins of the Russia investigation. Barr, last month, stirred controversy when he testified that he believed “spying did occur” against the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential election. “I think spying did occur," Barr said at a congressional hearing. "The question is whether it was adequately predicated. …Spying on a political campaign is a big deal." Barr later clarified in the hearing: "I am not saying that improper surveillance occurred; I’m saying that I am concerned about it and looking into it, that’s all.” Trump’s tweet could have been spurred by the FBI director’s appearance last week before a congressional panel where he broke with Barr on the use of that term. “That’s not the term I would use,” Wray told lawmakers on the Senate Appropriations Committee when asked if FBI agents engage in “spying” when they follow FBI policies and procedures. “Lots of people have different colloquial phrases,” he continued. “I believe that the FBI is engaged in investigative activity, and part of investigative activity includes surveillance activity of different shapes and sizes, and to me the key question is making sure that it’s done by the book, consistent with our lawful authorities.” But former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who resigned in November amid a political clash with the president following his decision in 2017 to recuse himself from oversight of the Russia investigation due to his work with the campaign, later took Barr’s side. “I think that ‘spying’ is a perfectly good word,” Sessions said during an on-stage interview at a conference in Las Vegas last week. Sessions, while he was attorney general, was routinely ripped by Trump on Twitter for his decision to recuse and his DOJ leadership amid the Russia probe. He was replaced after the 2018 midterms. It's unclear whether Wray could face similar criticism from the president going forward. The president, for his part, has defended Barr’s comments, repeatedly saying that spying “absolutely” occurred on his campaign. “It was illegal spying,” Trump said last month. “Unprecedented spying.” Meanwhile, the Justice Department inspector general is conducting an investigation into alleged misconduct related to Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and whether there was misconduct in the issuance of those warrants. The review is also reportedly probing the role of an FBI informant in the early stages of the Russia investigation.
I wonder if Wray is a good FBI Director or he just knows Trump is out of there in Jan 2021 and wants to keep his job for the full 10 years