In House Judiciary Hearing, Barr Makes Clear He Only Serves Trump
July 28, 2020
During today’s House Judiciary Committee hearing, it was clear that Attorney General Barr has corrupted our justice system and is only interested in protecting and defending Trump’s worst behavior.
Barr said that he didn’t think systemic racism existed in police departments.
BARR: “I don’t agree that there is systemic racism in police departments.”
Barr struggled to say definitively that it was not appropriate for a president to solicit or accept foreign assistance in an election.
REP. CICILLINE: “Is it ever appropriate, sir, for the president to solicit or accept foreign assistance in an election?”
BARR: “It depends what kind of assistance.”
Barr, who’s voted by mail himself, falsely claimed repeatedly that mail-in voting substantially increases the risk of fraud.
BARR: “If you have wholesale mail-in voting it substantially increases the risk of fraud.”
CNN’s Jeremy Herb: “Scanlon pressed Barr on claims of fraud and mail-in voting. Asked if he had any evidence of widespread fraud, Barr said: ‘No I don’t, but I have common sense.’”
Barr struggled to answer questions on the use of tear gas against peaceful protesters and falsely said it was not used in Lafayette Park.
MSNBC’s Garrate Haake: “Barr continues to deny the use of tear gas at Lafayette Park on June 1, even as a US National Guard major is testifying in a different House hearing that there was, and that he picked up the shells on the street that day.”
New Yorker’s Elizabeth Vargas: “Attorney General Bill Barr struggles to answer whether peaceful protesters deserve to ‘tear gassed and beaten to point of broken bones’, while showing video of a navy vet experiencing just that.”
Barr could not provide any other example where DOJ had recommended a more lenient sentence than the guidelines set out for a defendant like Roger Stone.
New York Times: “Representative Ted Deutch, Democrat of Florida, later asked Mr. Barr repeatedly if he would point to any other case where the department had recommended a more lenient punishment than the guidelines set out for a defendant like Mr. Stone, who had threatened a judge and a witness. Mr. Barr did not answer directly, insisting that ‘the judge agreed with me’ and gave Mr. Stone a lighter sentence.”