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In his first pair of interviews since being sworn in, Attorney General Barr told Fox News and WSJ that he was pursuing the investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia probe – an investigation he has tasked

John Durham, the US Attorney from Connecticut, with leading – because Americans need to know whether the government “put a thumb on the scale” to try and undermine President Trump both during the campaign and during the first two years of his term, just like “we need to ensure that foreign actors don’t influence the outcome of our elections.”

Separately, he told WSJ that “government power was used to spy on American citizens…I can’t imagine any world where we wouldn’t take a look and make sure that was done properly.”

Barr has doubled-down on using the term ‘spying’, which has angered Democrats, after first using it during Senate committee testimony from April 10, where he uttered the now-infamous phrase “I think spying did occur.”

The AG has declined to elaborate on what prompted these concerns, though he has said he’d be interested to see the underlying intelligence that sparked the FBI decision,in the summer of 2016, to open a counterintelligence investigation. At this point, Durham’s review isn’t a criminal investigation, and Barr hasn’t offered a timetable for when the investigation might be completed. Ultimately, the probe could lead to changing FBI protocols involving investigations into political campaigns.

Appearing to respond to Barr’s interviews, President Trump declared that his campaign was “conclusively” spied on.

Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump