Joe Biden called William Barr’s comment about coronavirus lockdowns and slavery “sick” and said that the comment would encourage people not to wear masks.
In a CNN town hall on Thursday night, Anderson Cooper sought clarity on whether the former vice president and Democratic presidential nominee would encourage more lockdowns while also bringing up the attorney general’s comment from the night before, in which he said coronavirus-related lockdowns were one of the greatest restrictions on civil liberties in U.S. history, other than slavery.
Biden did not directly address Barr’s comment while answering the first part of the question, saying that the need for lockdowns if the virus got worse would vary from state to state while also saying that wearing masks is important.
Cooper then asked if he thinks Barr’s comments encourage people not to wear masks.
“Sure. I mean, quite frankly, they’re sick,” Biden said. “Think about it. Did you ever, ever think, any of you, that you’d hear [an] attorney general say, that following the recommendations of the scientific community to save your and other people’s lives, is equivalent to slavery, people being put in chains?”
Barr compared civil rights restraints form the coronavirus-related lockdowns to the infringement of slavery at a Hillsdale College event on Wednesday but did not, as Biden said, draw an equivalency between the lockdowns and slavery.
“You know, putting a national lockdown, stay-at-home orders, is like house arrest. It’s — you know, other than slavery, which was a different kind of restraint, this is the greatest intrusion on civil liberties in American history,” Barr said.
Biden went on to say that people lost their freedom because the Trump administration did not act sooner.
“Anderson, I’ve been doing this a long time. I never, ever, ever thought I would see such a thoroughly, totally irresponsible administration,” Biden said.
