Attorney General William Barr Bill BarrHarris faces pivotal moment with Supreme Court battle Hillicon Valley: DOJ proposes tech liability shield reform to Congress | Treasury sanctions individuals, groups tied to Russian malign influence activities | House Republican introduces bill to set standards for self-driving cars McCarthy threatens motion to oust Pelosi if she moves forward with impeachment MORE defended his use of the term “spying” from his testimony before Congress last month, saying he doesn’t believe the word has a negative implication.

“I don’t think spying has any pejorative at all,” Barr said Wednesday during a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee in response to a question from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse Sheldon WhitehouseFeinstein 'surprised and taken aback' by suggestion she's not up for Supreme Court fight Hillicon Valley: Murky TikTok deal raises questions about China's role | Twitter investigating automated image previews over apparent algorithmic bias | House approves bill making hacking federal voting systems a crime House approves legislation making hacking voting systems a federal crime MORE (D-R.I.).

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He said he considers the term to encompass all kinds of surveillance.

“I’m not going to back off the word ‘spying,’ ” Barr said, noting that the word was also frequently used in media reports.

Barr faced criticism from Democrats who claimed that the attorney general’s use of the term to describe surveillance relating to the Trump campaign in 2016 indicated that he was biased toward the president, who has, in turn, claimed that the Justice Department is biased against him.

Some Democratic lawmakers questioned Barr’s credibility after he used the term.

Whitehouse also pressed Barr, who is testifying on the results of the Russia investigation, on when he decided to make public the letter special counsel Robert Mueller sent to Barr objecting to his summary of its findings.

Whitehouse asked whether Barr would "concede" he could have made the letter public in early April when he was asked "related" questions.

"I don't know what you mean by related question, it seems to me to be a very different question," Barr said.

“I can’t even follow that down the road. Boy, that’s some masterful hair-splitting," Whitehouse replied.