Screengrab from https://twitter.com/ABC/status/1115615769142763520

This isn’t groundbreaking to those of us who’ve been paying attention and aren’t incredibly obtuse, as the evidence has been overwhelming for a while, but it’s a very big (bombshell even) admission to hear AG Barr directly say he believes the Trump campaign was spied on.

While giving public testimony before the Senate today, AG Barr reiterated his intention to investigate the genesis of the 2016 probe into the Trump campaign, which would later morph into the Mueller investigation.

In Senate, AG Barr on investigating the Trump-Russia investigation: 'I am going to be reviewing both the genesis and conduct' of intelligence agencies' probe of Trump 2016 campaign. 'I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal.'

— Byron York (@ByronYork) April 10, 2019

This, of course, didn’t sit well with Democrats, who are all about transparency unless it happens to be investigating why a Presidential campaign was so grossly spied on and investigated with no verified crime nor counter-intelligence evidence of wrongdoing.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D – NH) immediately shot back, asserting that AG Barr couldn’t actually be saying what he was saying.

Dem Sen Shaheen to Barr: 'You're not suggesting that spying occurred?' Barr: 'I think spying did occur. The question is whether it was adequately predicated. I'm not suggesting it was not adequately predicated, but I need to explore that.'

— Byron York (@ByronYork) April 10, 2019

AG Barr goes on to reiterate his point, that he does think spying occurred.

He, of course, hedges here by saying that he’s not saying it was improper, at least not yet anyway. The point of his investigation will be to determine how all this got started, who was involved, and what verifiable evidence they used to justify their actions (Spoiler: there was none).

Barr’s statement is made even more stark by juxtaposing it to the media reaction of the last two years anytime someone mentioned spying on the Trump campaign. We were made to endure years of denials about Trump’s claim of wiretaps because the FBI were actually monitoring cellphones and emails, which you know, is just so much different. It was that kind of obtuse nonsense that has brought on so much frustration. Even today, CNN will call people who mention these details conspiracy theorists because they do not want to admit their narrative was false.

This is a good first step. The IG investigation is going on into this as well, but the IG has no prosecutorial power nor the power to compel testimony or evidence. He’s toothless. AG Barr has the power to do all of that and it’s high time for him to use it.

There was clear impropriety that took place involving unmasking, abuse of intelligence tools, FISA warrants, illegal leaks to the media, and general bias within the FBI/DOJ. These people need to be held accountable. If that happens, we might just prevent this from happening again.