U.S. DOJ confirms Barr foreign outreach in probe of 2016 election

The department statement followed a report from The Washington Post hours earlier that Barr had contacted British and Italian officials and that the Trump administration reached out to their Australian counterparts as part of an investigation into U.S. intelligence activities around Trump’s election.

The New York Times also reported Monday that Trump called Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia to urge him to help Barr in the Justice Department investigation. Both publications cited unidentified U.S. officials and people familiar with the matter for their reports.