Attorney General William Barr accused Rep. Jerry Nadler of conflating the Justice Department’s response to a recent uptick in violent crime in major cities with efforts by the department to assist local law enforcement with civil unrest in the same places.
“You really can’t hide behind legal fictions this time, Mr. Barr. It’s all out in the open,” Nadler told Barr during a House Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday. “The president wants footage for his campaign ads, and you appear to be serving it up to him as ordered. In most of these cities, the protests had begun to wind down before you marched in and confronted the protesters. … In this moment, real leadership would entail deescalation … instead, you use pepper spray and truncheons on American citizens. … Shame on you, Mr. Barr.”
Barr pushed back on Nadler’s assertion that he is acting as a political tool for President Trump.
“You’ve conflated two different things. The effort, like [Operation Legend], is to deal with violent crime … That does not involve encountering protesters, as you refer to it. Civil disturbance is a separate set of issues,” Barr said. “And I just reject the decision that the department is flooded anywhere in an attempt to suppress demonstrators. … And the fact of the matter is, in Portland, the courthouse is under attack.”
The House Judiciary Committee called Barr to testify regarding what they say is his covering for Trump related to the Russia investigation and enabling of a political pursuit that seeks to fan the flames of civil discourse in America.
Last week, the Justice Department launched Operation Legend, an effort the Trump administration said will help quell skyrocketing crime figures in several major cities.
“In recent weeks, there has been a radical movement to defund, dismantle, and dissolve our police departments,” Trump said. “Extreme politicians have joined this anti-police crusade and relentlessly vilified our law enforcement heroes. To look at it from any standpoint, the effort to shut down policing in their own communities has led to a shocking explosion of shootings, killings, murders, and heinous crimes of violence. This bloodshed must end. This bloodshed will end.”
Republicans have praised Barr for upholding the “rule of law” in the face of criticism from Democrats and some in the media, who they say do not take the rioting seriously.
“The chairman of the Judiciary Committee, the committee that’s supposed to look out for the rule of law, the committee that’s supposed to be concerned about the Constitution and protecting basic rights and liberties and antifa, a terrorist organization, is anything but a myth,” Rep. Jim Jordan, the ranking member on the committee, said.
