FBI Director Chris Wray told a Senate Panel Tuesday he would not consider the government's surveillance as "spying" when looking into the 2016 Trump campaign.
"Look there are a lot of people have different colloquial phrases," Wray said. "I believe that the FBI is engaged in investigative activity and part of investigative activity includes surveillance activity of different shapes and sizes. And to me the key question is making sure that it's done by the book."
His comments appear to contradict what Attorney General William Barr said last month. Barr told a Senate panel he believed FBI agents were spying on the 2016 Trump campaign.
"I guess you could – I think spying did occur. Yes, I think spying did occur," Barr said.
During a hearing before a House Appropriations subcommittee last month, Barr also said he's not launching an investigation into the FBI. But he did say he was "reviewing the conduct" of the FBI's investigation into Russia during the summer of 2016. He said the Department of Justice inspector general would release a report this month or sometime next month.
Additional reporting from Newsy affiliate CNN.
