William Barr testimony: AG slams 'demonization of police' and insists Trump ‘has not attempted to interfere’ in criminal cases
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Attorney General William Barr testified in a congressional hearing today, titled the “Oversight of the Department of Justice”, in front of the Democrat-led House Judiciary Committee. The hearing started off rocky, though, after Chairman Jerry Nadler was involved in a car crash on the way to the hearing.
Mr Barr's appearance on Capitol Hill was in first in front of the House Judiciary Committee despite multiple attempts by the Democrats to get the attorney general to testify before them.
In his opening testimony, Mr Barr vehemently defended his independence from the president after facing accusations of making decisions to appease Donald Trump. Mr Barr also defended the decision for federal agents to be deployed to cities like Portland, calling demonstrators in the city “violent rioters and anarchists”.
Mr Nadler then accused the attorney general of "aiding" and "abetting" in the president's "worst failings" during his own opening statement. He accused Mr Barr of many failings while attorney general, including allowing interference into the criminal cases of Trump allies, like Roger Stone and Michael Flynn.
Democrats chose what happened with Mr Stone as one line of questioning during the hearing. Mr Barr defended his decision to recommend a lesser sentence for the Trump ally, even though he supported the man being found guilty, but Democrats accused him of making the recommendations for a smaller sentence to appease Mr Trump.
Another important moment happened when Mr Barr was questioned about former US Attorney General Geoffrey Berman of SDNY stepping down. Mr Barr admitted he publicly announced the attorney general was stepping down prior to the man agreeing to leave office. He later backtracked that statement by saying Mr Berman was "removed" from office.
One theme consistent throughout the entire hearing was Democrats' refusal to let Mr Barr answer many of their questions. Instead the Democrats would cut the attorney general off to make their own statements. At one point, Mr Barr questioned why he was asked to speak in front of the hearing if he was unable to answer questions.
Republicans, on the other hand, used their time to attack Democrats and defend the attorney general. Top Republican Jim Jordan shared a video at the start of the hearing showing misleading imagery about the protests happening across the nation. Critics accused the representative of skewing the narrative and promoting propaganda.
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'Your characterisation of Portland is completely false', Barr says
Representative Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat of California, started her line of questioning by claiming a large majority of protesters in Portland were "nonviolent", mentioning the Wall of Moms movement.
She also said that the Trump administration deploying troops has only encouraged more people to turn out.
The New York Times reported that coverage of Portland inspired more protests around the country this past weekend, and more protest groups have formed in the liberal city since federal agents arrived.
But Mr Barr stood firm about his opinion on the Portland protests.
"Your characterisation of Portland is completely false," he said to the Democrat representative.
He later said the mission of the federal agents was to "enforce federal law" and "protecting federal property".
"Federal courts are under attack," Mr Barr said. "Since when is it OK to burn down a federal courthouse ... is that OK now? The US Marshalls have a duty to protect that and that is what they are doing in Portland. It is not to start trouble."
Footage has shown protesters tearing down fences around the federal courthouse, but agents have also been shown using violence against unarmed demonstrators.
Barr says he does not believe systemic racism exists in US police departments
"I don't agree that there's systemic racism in police departments generally in this country," Mr Barr said during a line of questioning.
He was pushed about why the Department of Justice has not worked to end systemic racism and police brutality against black Americans given the recent deaths.
The attorney general denied that it wasn't a priority in his department.
"I'm opposed to eliminating qualified immunity," Mr Barr added.
Qualified immunity is a judicially created doctrine designed to protect government officials from being personally liable to constitutional violations. For police officers, they are offered qualified immunity when their actions do not violate clearly established statuary or constitutional rights.
Democrats have pushed to remove qualified immunity for police officers because some have argued it allows them to get away with excessive force and other actions against citizens.
Trump's AG claims the president's friends 'don't deserve to be treated more harshly than other people'
Attorney General William Barr has defended his involvement in the cases against Michael Flynn and Roger Stone while claiming he worked to "restore the rule of law" in the Department of Justice upon his appointment.
"I'm supposedly punishing the President's enemies and helping his friends. What enemies have I indicted?" Barr asked. "You you say I helped the president's friends. The cases that are cited, the Stone case and the Flynn case are both cases where I determined that some intervention was necessary to rectify the rule of law, to make sure people are treated the same."
"I agree the President's friends don't deserve special breaks, but they also don't deserve to be treated more harshly than other people, and sometimes that's a difficult decision to make especially when you know you are going to be castigated for it. That's fairness to the individual ultimately comes to. Being willing to do what's fair to the individual," Mr Barr added.
Mr Barr later said he thought Mr Stone should go to jail. Donald Trump computed his ally's sentence earlier in July.
But Mr Barr added that he thought the prosecutors were attempting to go for a higher sentence against Mr Stone because he was an ally to the president.
"I was not going to advocate that because that is not the rule of law," he said.
Barr doubles down on his decision to recommend a lower sentence for Stone
In a line of questioning with Representative Hank Johnson, a Democrat of Georgia, Donald Trump's attorney general was pushed about why he recommended a lesser sentencing for Roger Stone, an ally to the president.
Prosecutors recommended for Mr Stone to serve seven to nine years in prison after he was found guilty on seven federal accounts, including witness tampering and lying to investigators.
Following the sentencing, Mr Trump tweeted out that the number of years given to Mr Stone was too high. Then, following that tweet, Mr Barr revealed within his department that he was recommending a lesser sentence for the president's ally.
Mr Johnson asked the attorney general if the sentencing given to Mr Stone was within guidelines for the crimes he was found guilty of by the court.
"It was within the guidelines but it was not within Justice Department guidelines, in my view," he said, saying Mr Stone's age played a part into his decision.
"I had not discussed my sentencing recommendation with anyone in the White House," he added.
Mr Johnson appeared to accuse the attorney general of making his recommendation because the president expressed his disproval following the sentencing.
Trump attorney general Barr claims feds 'on defence' in Portland
Attorney General William Barr cast himself as the victim of Democratic attacks on Tuesday while defending his decisions to deploy unwanted federal law enforcement units to US cities such as Portland, Oregon, and intervene in the criminal prosecutions of two of Donald Trump's friends, Michael Flynn and Roger Stone.
"We are on the defence [in Portland]. We're not out looking for trouble," Mr Barr told lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee during his first ever testimony before the panel.
"If the state and the city would provide the law enforcement services that other jurisdictions do, we would have no need to have additional marshals in the courthouse," Mr Barr said, arguing that, for weeks, violent protesters have attempted to besiege the federal US courthouse in Portland.
Griffin Connolly has the full story about this line of questioning:
Barr details his department's investigation into Antifa, specifically in Portland
Attorney General William Barr was asked about his thoughts on Antifa, a far-left militant group accused of promoting violence and riots.
He said the Department of Justice was investigating the group for domestic terrorism but had yet to determine if it was a terrorist organisation.
"There are number of violent extreme groups in the United States. Antifa is heavily represented in the recent riots, that is not to say they are the only group involved," Mr Barr said.
"They have been identified in mob actions taken place across the country," he added.
Mr Barr added that his department's investigation into Portland has shown involvement from Antifa to create mob violence amid the protesters, causing concern.
"We are concerned about this problem metastasising across the country. We feel like in a place like Portland, where even we don't have the support of local government, we have to take a stand and defend this federal property," he said.
Attorney general claims there is a 'high risk' voter fraud will increase if mail-in ballots are allowed
Donald Trump's attorney general has backed the president's claims that mail-in voting could lead to voter fraud.
"I think there is a high risk it will," Attorney General William Barr said, but admitted he voted by mail once.
"I'm not talking about accommodations to people how have to be out of state ... If you have wholesale mail-in voting it substantially increases voter fraud," he added.
No reports have indicated mail-in ballots increased voter fraud in past elections. Donald Trump and other members of his administration have previously voted by mail. But the president has claimed other people doing so, specifically amid the coronavirus, would lead to fraud.
Mr Trump has hinted to his Twitter following that he might not accept the upcoming election results by claiming voter fraud will be committed.
Mr Barr was asked if the president would have a legal standing to contest the upcoming election results if he were to lose by a significant margin.
"Not that I'm aware of," the attorney general said.
Barr defends reports of federal agents using unmarked vans to detail protesters
Representative Ted Lieu, a Democrat of California, asked Attorney General William Barr about the legal standard of seizing and arresting protesters.
Mr Barr said the arrest has to be "predicated on probable cause".
The representative then mentioned multiple instances when it appeared federal agents did not have probable cause to arrest and detain protesters, including using unmarked vans to move a demonstrator away from the area.
He also mentioned the Supreme Court case of Dunaway v NY, which ruled that taking someone into custody and detaining them constitutes an arrest. But Mr Barr would not agree, despite the Supreme Court ruling, that it could constitute an arrest.
Representative Debbie Lesko, a Republican of Arizona, later yielded her time to Mr Barr so he could answer Mr Lieu's accusations that federal agents were impeding on protesters conditional rights and not abiding by the Fourth Amendment, which does not allow officers to use unreasonable searches and seizures against citizens.
Mr Barr said the reasoning behind agents using unmarked vans was so that they could "pick them up where there was less of a risk to this mob response."
"It doesn't mean there wasn't probable cause. In some cases it could be a misidentification in other cases it could mean the person ditched the laser," he said mentioning one instance of a protester using a laser against federal agents.
Video of Navy veteran Christopher David is used as evidence of federal agents using violence against protesters
Representative David Cicilline, a Democrat of Rhode Island, used the video footage of Navy veteran Christopher David as proof federal agents have used excessive force against protesters in Portland.
The video showed federal agents hitting Mr David with batons and using tear gas on the man while he stood still.
"The inspector general is reviewing that particular incident," Attorney General William Barr said about the incident.
"I don't think peaceful protesters should face that," he added when questioned if "peaceful protesters" should be tear gassed or face "broken bones" by federal agents during demonstrations.
Mr David's hand was fractured in multiple places after federal agents hit him with batons.
Here is our interview with Mr David following the incident:
Democrats challenge Barr's decision to not intervene when armed protesters stormed the Michigan Capitol building
One point the Democrats have brought up consistently throughout the hearing was that Attorney General William Barr reminded silent when protesters wielding guns stormed Michigan's Capitol building and threatened Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
"There is a real discrepancy in how you react when white men with swasticas storm a Capitol building with guns ... but when black people protest systemic racism ,,, then you forcibly remove them with federal officers ... because they are considered terrorists by the president," Representative Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat of Washington, claimed.
"You are supposed to represent the people of the United States of America, not impede on their First Amendment rights," she added.
During this line of questioning, Mr Barr claimed he was not aware about the Michigan protests at the time they occurred.
He was also questioned about why pepper spray was used against peaceful protesters in Lafayette Square in Washington DC so President Donald Trump could walk to a nearby church.
"I don't accept your characterisation of what happened," Barr said, claiming pepper spray was not used despite reports indicating it was used on protesters.
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