Attorney General William Barr confirmed Wednesday during testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee that the Trump campaign was briefed in 2016 that the Russians would try to infiltrate it, contrary to previous remarks made by the president.
“I have been told during the break that a lesser kind of briefing, a security briefing that generally discusses general threats, apparently was given to the campaign in August [2016],” Barr told lawmakers after returning from a brief recess.
Earlier in his testimony, the attorney general was asked by Republican Senator John Cornyn whether a “defensive briefing” was given to the Trump campaign by the FBI as part of their counterintelligence investigation. Cornyn also questioned whether the FBI told then-candidate Trump “what the Russians were trying to do and advise him to tell people affiliated with his campaign to be on their guard and be vigilant about Russian efforts to undermine public confidence in the election.”
“My understanding is that didn’t happen,” Barr responded. “Under these circumstances, it’s one of the things that I can’t fathom why it did not happen, if you’re concerned about interference in the election and you have substantial people involved in the campaign who were former U.S. attorneys, I don’t understand why the bureau would not have gone and given a defensive briefing.”
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{Matzav.com}