Durham’s evidence collected in Italy involves multiple FBI agents stationed there in 2016

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Bill Barr asked Italy's spies what FBI agents were up to in the country before the 2016 election

Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte said Wednesday U.S. Attorney General William Barr was seeking information about the activities of FBI agents assigned to Italy in his meetings with Italian intelligence officials this summer.

Conte insisted on the complete legitimacy of both the meetings and his own role, during a press conference after testifying behind closed doors to the parliamentary intelligence committee in Rome.

Conte said Barr's request arrived via normal diplomatic channels for 'a preliminary exchange of information with our intelligence aimed at verifying activities of American agents. This must be clear.'

Conte argued that Italian law gives the country's premier sole responsibility for responding to intelligence requests, and that he could not seek, for example, preliminary clearance from the parliamentary intelligence committee or legally discuss the request with any minister or political leader.

Conte also emphasized that the Americans showed no interest in the activities of Italian intelligence, and that the Italian intelligence services were 'completely extraneous to these events.'

Conte said that Barr first held a 'preliminary technical' meeting with intelligence officials in offices at Rome's Piazza Dante on Aug. 15. That was followed up with another meeting in the same offices on Sept. 27.

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