Barr Confronts Democrats Who Say That He Gives In to Trump
Barr Denies Letting Trump Dictate to DOJ Ahead of House Face-Off
(Bloomberg) -- William Barr offered a combative defense of his independence from Donald Trump and the federal response to protests as he testified before a committee in the Democratic-controlled House for the first time since he became attorney general more than 17 months ago.
“The president has not attempted to interfere,” Barr said in opening comments at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday. “On the contrary, he has told me from the start that he expects me to exercise my independent judgment to make whatever call I think is right.”
Barr appeared in person in what amounted to a congressional firing chamber. Over more than four hours of testimony, the panel’s Democrats pressed Barr on two fronts -- alleging that he’s abandoned the Justice Department’s political independence to back the president and has misused federal force against demonstrators.
“Your tenure has been marked by a persistent war against the department’s professional core in an apparent attempt to secure favors for the president,” Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York, the panel’s chairman, said in opening the hearing. He also said “we see the full force of the federal government brought to bear against citizens demonstrating for the advancement of their own civil rights.”
Barr denied Nadler’s assertion that he’s working to back Trump’s “law-and-order” re-election campaign theme and said that “every member of this committee – regardless of your political views or your feelings about the Trump administration – should condemn violence against federal officers and destruction of federal property.”
He also portrayed himself as a target for slander and demonization by Democrats for asserting that Trump was -- as the president has claimed -- the victim of wrongdoing by the Obama administration and by anti-Trump forces in the FBI.
Since becoming attorney general, Barr has sought to discredit the FBI’s investigation into whether Trump or anyone associated with his presidential campaign conspired with Russia in its interference in the 2016 election.
“Spying -- that’s why they’re after you, Mr. Attorney General,” said Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, the Judiciary panel’s top Republican. Jordan said congressional Democrats attack Barr because he spoke out about alleged Obama administration spying on the Trump campaign in 2016.
Barr’s most controversial decisions in recent months have included overruling his own prosecutors to reduce a recommended prison sentence for Trump ally Roger Stone -- whose sentence has since been commuted by Trump -- and dropping the prosecution of the president’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn.
“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,” Barr testified.
Under questioning, Barr couldn’t recall any other times he intervened in cases to go against his own prosecutors, prompting Democrats to assert that showed actions on Stone and Flynn were politically motivated.
‘Rioters, Anarchists’
Democrats also grilled Barr on his role in the aggressive use of federal force in response to protests against racism and police abuse after the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, at the hands of Minneapolis police.
Barr has defended the use of force to clear largely peaceful demonstrators in front of the White House in June as well as protests marked by violent incidents that are continuing in Portland, Oregon. Jordan showed extensive video of violent clashes.
“In the wake of George Floyd’s death, violent rioters and anarchists have hijacked legitimate protests to wreak senseless havoc and destruction on innocent victims,” Barr said. “The current situation in Portland is a telling example.”
Democratic Representative David Cicilline of Rhode Island said federal “officers are using abhorrent tactics” including tear gas, against peaceful protesters. He asserted that Barr’s goal is to provide footage for Trump’s campaign commercials.
Barr responded that at times such methods are needed “to disperse an unlawful assembly and sometimes unfortunately peaceful protesters are affected as well.” He acknowledged, though, that nonviolent demonstrators shouldn’t be beaten and gassed.
Barr also has resisted new federal restrictions aimed at reducing police abuses, like those in House-passed legislation that hasn’t been taken up in the Republican-led Senate.
“The threat to Black lives posed by crime on the streets is massively greater than any threat posed by police misconduct,” Barr said. “The leading cause of death for young black males is homicide.”
On other topics, Barr praised Trump’s response to the coronavirus, blaming former President Barack Obama’s administration for federal shortcomings that surfaced early in the pandemic.
Asked about prospects for the November election, Barr said he has no reason to believe it will be rigged, as Trump has suggested. But he echoed the president’s assertion that the broad use of mail-in voting would carry a “high risk” of fraud.
As the hearing went on, the exchanges became increasingly testy, with Barr dismissing questions from committee Democrats and the Democrats making accusations without letting him respond. “Let him talk!” Republican Jordan said at one point.
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