Fox News hosts’ heated showdown over Barr’s FBI spying probe: ‘So, Chris Wray is lying for them?’

(Video screenshots)

On the same day that Fox News correspondent Dagen McDowell blew up on fellow network contributor Juan Williams on “The Five” for dismissing Attorney General Bill Bar’s investigation into the origins of the Russian collusion probe, something similar happened over on “Outnumbered.” — except that this feud was a wee bit less volatile.

Just like Williams, Democrat political consult Jessica Tarlov refuses to accept the indisputable fact that the Obama administration had spied on President Donald Trump’s campaign. To her, it was nothing but standard-fare surveillance, never mind the contradicting facts.

During a discussion Friday on “Outnumbered” about the latest bombshell regarding Bruce and Nellie Ohr — documents obtained by Judicial Watch suggest that the pair purposefully deleted some of their email exchanges, allegedly to hide something — Tarlov cited FBI Director Christopher Wray’s recent testimony to the Senate Appropriations Committee as proof of her thesis.

Watch this part of the discussion below:

“We had Christopher Wray, who’s a Trump appointee, head of the FBI, came out last week and said this wasn’t spying. … It was a legitimate counterintelligence investigation,” she argued.

True, but he delivered this testimony only days after The New York Times openly admitted that then-President Barack Hussein Obama’s FBI had employed multiple spies in 2016 to surveil then-GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump’s foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos.

Why then did Wray say otherwise to the Senate?

“But he’s also trying to protect the institution, though,” fellow “Outnumbered” panelist Lawrence Jones argued.

“So he’s lying for them? So you want to say that now — that Christopher Wray was brought in to do cleanup and now he’s just …”

“I think the rank and file — I think he is afraid that the rank and file will feel like he doesn’t support them,” Jones replied. “But the fact of the matter is it’s not the first time the FBI has spied on Americans. They have a history of doing it. And I’m not saying every federal agent out there is going to target Americans. But the leadership, what we do know historically, has done something like this.”

“Outnumbered” co-host Harris Faulkner then jumped in to reiterate that spying did occur — despite what Tarlov claims — but also point out that it isn’t meant to be a pejorative.

“Remember what William Barr said — and he’s right about this —  spying, whether it’s illegal or inappropriate, it’s what they do, it’s not a pejorative. It’s not a word that has some secret meaning in it,” she said.

Here’s a reminder of what he’d said:

“It sounds a lot different than a legitimate counterintelligence investigation,” Tarlov replied.

“But they’ve done it illegally before,” Jones said.

And that’s the point. It’s been confirmed without a shadow of a doubt that spying occurred. What remains unknown is whether the spying had been legal or illegal.

“The question isn’t whether or not spying was going on,” Faulkner explained. “The question is what led up to that point? Were the right steps taken? Were there any inappropriate or illegal steps taken that process? The FISA court is secret. It would be great if we could just get all their files, but that’s probably not going to happen on this Friday.”

And that’s why Barr launched an investigation. He explained all this himself while testifying to the Senate Appropriations Committee last month, but apparently, nobody on the left paid attention.

“I think spying did occur,” he specifically said. “But the question is whether it was predicated – adequately predicated. I’m not suggesting it wasn’t adequately predicated, but I need to explore that. I think it’s my obligation. Congress is usually very concerned about intelligence agencies and law enforcement agencies staying in their proper lane.”

The discussion on “Outnumbered” concluded with Tarlov pointing out for some reason that some of Trump’s former campaign officials had lied to the FBI about their contacts with Russia. It’s unclear what this has to do with whether or not the Obama administration’s spying had been legal or not.

Listen to the full discussion below:

No matter how much Tarlov and Williams complain about Barr’s investigation, the fact remains that they can’t stop it. Reports emerged this week that the attorney general has already appointed someone to begin the actual investigation.

The appointee, U.S. Attorney John Durham, is reportedly a “hard-charging, bulldog” with a history of rooting out corruption within the FBI itself.

“In 1999, then-Attorney General Janet Reno appointed Durham to investigate corruption in federal law enforcement in Boston,” The Daily Signal notes. “He examined whether two Boston mob figures, Bulger and Stephen ‘The Rifleman’ Flemmi, had corrupted the FBI agents whom they served as informants.

“Durham’s investigation led to a 10-year prison sentence for retired FBI agent John Connolly Jr., found guilty of helping the two gangsters avoid prosecution. As part of this investigation, Durham produced documents showing four men had been framed by FBI agents and convicted of murder in the 1960s. Two died in prison, but two others won a $100 million civil judgment against the Justice Department.”

Now just imagine the potential prison sentences that might be waiting for the likes of John Brennan, James Clapper, James Comey and perhaps even Barack Hussein Obama.

“If I were the Democrats I would be quite worried,” former Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo, who served in President George W. Bush’s administration, opined this week on FNC’s “The Ingraham Angle.”

“[Y]ou wouldn’t go with a U.S. Attorney like Durham, someone of his stature, unless the attorney general thinks actually something criminal might have happened, that someone might have violated the law, that there might have been malfeasance, that people at the FBI or the Justice Department were acting out of partisan motives, not just out of incompetence or stupidity or they were duped by the Russians or Steele or the English or by the Clinton campaign.”

Listen:

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