CNBC reporter demolishes Bill Barr's lie that Russia investigation 'collapsed' after Trump's election

In a new interview, Attorney General William Barr made several claims reaffirming the GOP's conspiracy theories about an FBI "deep state" seeking to undermine President Donald Trump from within. As part of that, he suggested that the FBI's investigation fell apart shortly after the election.

But as CNBC's John Harwood swiftly pointed out, not only didn't the FBI's investigation fall apart after the election, many of the critical events that ultimately became a major focus of the investigation — and of former special counsel Robert Mueller's findings on obstruction of justice — took place in the immediate aftermath of the election:

The Justice Department's inspector general released a new report that faulted some of the FBI's evidence-gathering practices in the Russia investigation, but broadly found the investigation itself justified and debunked the idea there was a grand conspiracy at the agency to take down Trump. Barr has publicly disputed the results of these findings.