Comey: ‘The FBI doesn’t spy, the FBI investigates’

Former FBI Director James Comey on Wednesday took aim at Attorney General William Barr over comments about “spying” that Barr believes targeted President Trump’s campaign in 2016.

In an appearance on “CBS This Morning,” the former FBI chief admonished Barr for his use of the word “spy” and said that is not what the FBI does.

{mosads}”Yeah, I have no idea what he’s talking about. The FBI doesn’t spy, the FBI investigates,” Comey said of Barr’s use of “spying” to describe potential surveillance measures targeting members of the Trump campaign in 2016.

“We investigated a very serious allegation, that Americans might be hooked up with the Russian effort to attack our democracy.”

He also lashed out at Republicans for playing politics with the matter.

“The Republicans need to breathe into a paper bag,” Comey continued. “If we had confronted the same facts with a different candidate, say, a Democratic candidate, where one of their advisers was talking to a foreign adversary’s representative, about that adversary interfering in our election, they’d be screaming for the FBI to investigate it.”

“The FBI doesn’t spy, the FBI investigates.” — James @Comey pic.twitter.com/wmQjkeFXp6

— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) May 8, 2019

Comey’s comments come after Barr gave testimony to a Senate committee last month in which he said that he believed that the U.S. government engaged in “spying” on the Trump campaign in 2016 before clarifying that he took no position on whether it was justified or legal.

“I think spying did occur,” Barr told a Senate Appropriations subcommittee. “But the question is whether it was adequately predicated, and I’m not suggesting it wasn’t adequately predicated, but I need to explore that.”

The comments were swiftly rebuked by former members of the intelligence community, including former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who called them “stunning” and “scary.”

“I was amazed at that and rather disappointed that the attorney general would say such a thing,” Clapper told CNN last month.