FBI chief Wray breaks with Barr on use of term 'spying'

By ERIC TUCKER and MICHAEL BALSAMO Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — FBI Director Chris Wray says "spying" is not the term he would use for court-authorized surveillance conducted by the bureau.

Wray was asked at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing Tuesday about Attorney General William Barr's assertion last month that the Trump campaign had been spied on during the 2016 election.

Asked if he believes that the FBI is involved in spying when it conducts surveillance with a warrant, Wray replied, "That's not the term I would use."

He acknowledged that different people use different language, but that the key question for him is "making sure it's done by the book."

Wray declined to discuss the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign because it's part of an ongoing Justice Department inspector general investigation.