AG Bill Barr says CIA did NOT 'spy' on Donald Trump's campaign, slapping down president's claims - and says John Durham's probe is focusing on a 'small group' at the FBI

Attorney general Barr is reflecting on the calls he made that benefitted President Trump and a few that didn't in his final days in office – as he said the CIA didn't stray beyond its international spy brief in 2016.

Barr told the Wall Street Journal he was suspicious that CIA agents – who are barred from spying on Americans – had spied on President Trump's campaign. The president repeatedly alleged publicly he was spied on.

But according to Barr, it didn't happen. 'The CIA stayed in its lane,' he told the Wall Street Journal in an interview. 

Attorney General William Barr defended his tenure in an interview during his final days in office

Before his controversial decision to designate U.S. attorney John Durham to probe the origins of the Russia probe, Barr concluded he didn't 'see any sign of improper CIA activity' or 'foreign government activity before July 2016,' he told the paper.   

The Durham probe is focused on alleged FBI misconduct. It's work continues, and in a protected fashion thanks in part to Barr's decision to designate Durham as a special counsel – something he did not reveal until after the election.

The probe has a narrow focus on 'the conduct of Crossfire Hurricane, the small group at the FBI that was most involved in that,' he said, in reference to the Russia probe, 'the activities of certain private actors.'

To date only one person, an FBI lawyer, has been charged, despite the president's public push for action before the election.   

Democrats accuse Barr of acting like President Trump's personal lawyer

Barr said the CIA 'stayed in its lane' and didn't spy on Trump. He said U.S. Attorney John Durham's probe was narrowly focused

Barr said US Attorney John Durham's probe was narrowly focused

Barr defended the decision to overrule career prosecutors on Roger Stone's sentencing

Democrats have accused Barr of acting like Trump's personal lawyer, and he defended a range of his decisions. On Monday, Trump announced that Barr was resigning, and the ouster followed public and private fuming by Trump about Barr.

The initial 2017 time the FBI interviewed Flynn in the Russia probe had 'no legitimate investigative basis,' said Barr. Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents during the White House talk. On Thursday, he called for Trump to impose martial law and rerun elections in states he lost - weeks after Trump gave him a presidential pardon.

Barr called the case 'entirely bogus. 'It was analogous right now to DOJ prosecuting the person Biden named as his national security adviser for communication with a foreign government.' 

The person Flynn lied about communicating with was then Russian ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak. The topic was sanctions the Obama administration imposed for election hacking. U.S. officials think Russia is behind a massive hack only discovered this week involving the Pentagon and even U.S. nuclear programs.

Barr defended his decision to overrule career prosecutors – some of whom quit – over prosecuting Trump associate Roger Stone. He said he didn't 'go looking' to get involved in the case, which Trump tweeted about repeatedly.

But he bristled that special counsel Robert Mueller's prosecutors 'wanted a penalty for him that was unprecedented and outlandish.' 

'I wasn't going to have the department seek such a harsh penalty,' he said. After the switch, Stone got a much lighter sentence – and Trump ended up commuting it.

He also defended his decision not to publicly reveal a probe into Hunter Biden. Revelations that he had done so preceded coincided with his ouster.

DOJ guidelines prohibit public actions that might interfere in an election.

 Barr said there are 'damn good reason for the rule.' He added: 'Think about the power it would give the federal bureaucracy. The standard for investigating someone is low. So just gin up an investigation, make it public, affect every election.'

Barr also dismissed the Mueller probe, and brushed off evidence showing Trump campaign contacts with Russians, such as a Trump tower meeting to get 'dirt' on Hillary Clinton, and Stone's claims that he had a channel of communications with WikiLeaks, which U.S. intelligence believe is a conduit for Russian intelligence.

'Of course the Russians did bad things in the election,' said Barr. 'But the idea that this was done with the collusion of the Trump campaign—there was never any evidence. It was entirely made up,' said Barr.