Transcripts For CSPAN Attorney General Barr Testifies On Justice Department Mission Programs -... 20240712

Cspan, created by americas Cable Television companies as a Public Service and brought to you today by your television provider. Barrtorney general william was on capitol hill for an oversight hearing on the Justice Department. This was his first appearance before the House Judiciary Committee since joining the Trump Administration. The attorney general was asked about his role in criminal cases involving roger stone and others as well as the federal response to nationwide protests and the legitimacy of mailin ballots despite claims of voter fraud by the president. The House Committee on the judiciary will come to order the House Committee on the judiciary will come to order. The chair is authorized to declare recess at any time and we welcome, we welcome everyone to this mornings hearing on oversight for the department of justice. I apologize for getting the hearing late, as many of you know i was in a minor car accident on the way in this morning. Everyone is fine, except perhaps the car. But it did cause significant delay. I think the attorney general and the members for their patience and flexibility and we will now begin. Before we begin, i want to acknowledge and note that we are joined this morning by the distinguished majority leader, the gentleman from maryland, leader hoyer, who has long recognized the need for vigorous congressional oversight of the executive branch under both parties and we appreciate his presence today as we question the attorney general. Before we begin, i would like to remind members that we have an established email distribution list dedicated to circulating exhibits, motions, and other materials members would like to offer. If you would like to submit materials, send them to the email address previously distributed to your offices and we will circulate those materials to members and staff as quickly as we can. I would remind all members that guidance from the office of the attending physicians states that face coverings are required for all meetings and enclosed spaces such as this Committee Hearing and i expect all members on both sides to wear a mask except when you are speaking. I will now recognize myself for an Opening Statement. Thank you for being here, mr. Barr. According to the Congressional Research service, this is the first time you have appeared before the House Judiciary Committee, both during your first tenure as attorney general 30 years ago and during your Current Service in the Trump Administration. Welcome. 150 years ago last month, in the aftermath of the civil war, congress created the department of justice. We did so with two missions in mind. First, we wanted to replace a system of party spoils with a core of professional government attorneys. Yes, they would be supervised by the attorney general and yes, the attorney general would remain a political appointee, but at its heart, the department would rely on a foundation of professionals dedicated to the Impartial Administration of the law and an unbiased system of justice. Second, congress established the department of justice to enforce the nations first civil rights laws after the civil war. From that moment on it became that departments responsibility to ensure the right to vote and stem the tide of systemic racism. Now, not every attorney general in the intervening years has given full expression to these goals. Im certain that every administration has fallen short of those promises in some way over time, but today under your leadership, sir, these two objectives are more at risk than at any time in modern history. Your tenure has been marred by persistent war against the departments professional core in an apparent attempt to secure favors for the president. Others have lost sight of the importance of civil rights laws, but now we see the full force of the federal government brought to bear against citizens demonstrating for the advancement of their own civil rights. There is no precedent for the department of justice to actively seek out conflict with american citizens under such flimsy pretext for such petty purposes. 150 years later, we are again at a Pivotal Moment in the nations history and we are confronted with a Global Pandemic that has killed 150,000 americans and infected 16 million worldwide. We are coming to grips with a civil rights struggle long swept under the rug if not outright ignored by the government. As a nation we are witnessing the federal government turned violently on its own people and responsibility for the failure to protect the rights of the people belongs squarely to President Trump, he could not have done this alone. He needed help. After he finished utterly humiliating his first attorney general, he found you. In your time at the department, you have aided and abetted the worst failings of the president. Let us recount just some of the decisions that have left us deeply concerned about the apartment of justice. First, under your leadership the department has endangered americans and violated their Constitutional Rights by flooding federal Law Enforcement into the streets of American Cities against of the wishes of the states and local leaders of the cities to forcibly and unconstitutionally suppress dissent. Second, at your direction the Department Officials have downplayed the effects of systemic racism and abandoned the victims of police brutality. Refused to hold Abusive Police departments accountable for their actions and expressed open hostility to the black lives matter movement. Third, in connection and coordination with the white house, the department has spread disinformation about voter fraud, failed to enforce Voting Rights laws, and attempted to change the census rules to flaunt to the plain text of the constitution and even defied court orders on the subject. All in an apparent attempt to assist the president s reelection. Fourth, at the president s were asked, the department has amplified the president s conspiracy theories and shielded him from responsibility by blatantly misrepresenting the Mueller Report and failing to hold foreign actors accountable for attacks on our election, undermining both National Security and the Department Must professional staff in the process. Fifth, again and again, you, personally, have interfered with ongoing criminal investigations to protect the president and his allies from the consequences of their actions. When career investigators and prosecutors resisted these brazen unprecedented actions, you replaced them with less qualified staff who appeared to be singularly beholden to you. The message that these actions send is clear. In this Justice Department, the president s enemies will be punished and his friends will be protected, no matter the costs, no matter the costs the liberty, no matter the costs to justice. Finally, perhaps most pernicious the department has placed the president s political needs over the Public Health by challenging stayathome orders in the states hit hardest by the pandemic. The departments persistent efforts to gut the Affordable Care make recovery that was harder. These actions come at a price. Real damage to democratic norms, the erosion of the separation of powers, and a loss of faith in the equal administration of justice. In the hands of President Trump, a department of justice that adopts a dangerously expansive view of executive power and demonstrates a willingness to shield him from accountability represents a direct threat to the liberty and safety of the country. And we were warned. In your confirmation hearing, professor neil king testified that Public Confidence in the rule of law depends on there being an attorney general that wont allow the president to do whatever he wants with the Justice Department. William barrs views of president ial power are so radically mistaken that he is simply the wrong man at the wrong time to be attorney general of the United States. Again, this failure of leadership comes at great costs. The administration has twisted the department of justice into a shadow of its former self, capable of serving most americans only after it has first served those in power. The committee has a responsibility to protect americans from that kind of corruption. We have a responsibility to ensure the Justice Department and its attorney general administer justice fairly. This is what has brought us to the hearing room today. We want to give you a chance to respond to our questions on these and other matters and we hope and expect that you will do so in a clear and forthright manner. Our members expect sincere answers today and our country deserves no less. I now recognize the Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee, the gentleman from ohio, mr. Jordan, for his Opening Statements. Spying, that one word, that is what they are after you for. 2019 in a sentence putting 19, you said that spying on a Political Campaign is a big deal. Spying on a Political Campaign is a big deal. It sure is. Since that day, when you had the courage to state the truth, they attack to you and have been attacking you every sense, every day, every week, simply for stating the truth that the Obama Biden Administration spied on the Trump Campaign. One year ago the New York Times said this the fbi sent a young lady to meet papadopoulos. They said someone pretending to be someone else was sent to meet a Person Associated with the Trump Campaign. You know what they call that . You know what they call that . Spying. One month later, october of 2016, they use the dossier to fire carter page. A salacious, unverified dossiers. Jim comeys words. Said they didnt tell the court that the guy who wrote the document had already communicated to the Justice Department that he was desperate to stop trump from getting elected. Guess what . There were 15 more lies that they told the court. 17 in total, outlined by the Inspector General. Each and every one of them in his 400 page report. Guess what . Chairman nadler refuses to allow mr. Horwitz to come answer these questions about the 17 lies that the Obama Biden Administration told to the secret court. The obama biden doj opened the investigation in july and used a secret agent lady in august and lied to the court in september. They did all of this without any basis for launching the investigation to begin with. How do we know that . How do we know there was no basis . They told us. They didnt want to, but thanks to grenell, who released the transcript of their testimony, we now know that there was no basis for them to start the investigation in the first place. Susan rice, heres what she said. I dont recall intelligence i would consider evidence of a conspiracy. How about James Clapper . I never saw any evidence that the Trump Campaign was conspiring with the russians to meddle in the election. Say that again, i never saw evidence, yet they investigate him. There was never a proper predicate, so why did they do it . They told us that, too. Peter strzok, august 2016, asked, is trump going to win . What was his response . No, no hes not, well stop it. October, they use the fake dossier in the court. Guess what happens in november . Guess what happens in november . November 8, 2016, the American People get in their way. 63 million of them to be back. Now everything changes. Now the real focus is while, wait a minute, we didnt stop him, he won. Now what do they have to do . They have to do the cover up. Who do they have to go after . Who is target number one . The former head of the Defense Intelligence agency. The guy about to become National Security advisor to the president , Michael Flynn. They cant have him hanging around, he will figure it out. So, they decide to go after Michael Flynn. And we know they went after him because they told us that, too. The head of counterintelligence at the fbi, the day they interviewed him, 2017, what to his notes say . The goal is to get flynn to lies to get him fired. Think about what the obama doj, what their administration did in the last month they were in power. January 4, the famous meeting in the oval office, they are all in their plotting a strategy. January 6, the trump tower in briefs the president elect on the dossier that they already know is false just so that they can think to the press and the press and write the story that he was brief. And of course, january 24, the day that they go to set up Michael Flynn, set up Michael Flynn in his interview. Guess what else they did . Guess what else they did between election day and Inauguration Day . 38 people 49 times unmask his name. Comey, klapper, biden, seven people at the Treasury Department unmask his name for goodness sakes. Of course, he resigns on february 13. He resigns on february 13. Now the coverup is complete. Flynn is gone, everything is fine, they think, until may 9, 2017, when President Trump fires jim comey. Now they have a problem again. The guy who was going to keep it quiet has been fired. Now how do they continue the coverup . Real simple. Jim comey leaks his memos with the express purpose of getting a special counsel appointed to investigate something they know isnt true, which is exactly what happened. Two years, 500 witnesses, 30 million in costs to the taxpayer and they come back with nothing, absolutely nothing. So, all they have got left is to attack the attorney general who had the rage to state the truth from the getgo the first time that he testified. You guys attack him every day, every week, no you file articles of impeachment. Its ridiculous. He had the courage to do what no one else would do at the Justice Department. Sally yates wouldnt call it spying. Rod rosenstein wouldnt do it. Chris wade sure as heck isnt going to do it. Mr. Attorney general, i want to thank you for having the courage to call it what it was, spying, for having the courage to say that we are getting the politics out of the department of justice that had been there in the Previous Administration and most of late, we will be talking about this on our side of questioning, thank you for defending Law Enforcement. For pointing out what a crazy idea the defund the police policy, whatever you want to call it, is, and standing up for the rule of law. We have a video we want to show. Can we play that video, please . [no audio] clear and how i characterize it. Its mostly a protest. It is not, generally speaking, unruly. Peaceful protests. Peaceful protests. Peaceful protests. Peaceful protests. Peaceful protests. Peaceful protesters. I have asked myself, my children and my family, we would like to thank friends, neighbors, coworkers, and the community for the love and support after the tragic loss of my husband, my beloved husband david dorn. We would like to thank the metropolitan Police Department for their hard work and perseverance in this investigation, as well as the circuit attorneys office. He dedicated his life to the city of st. Louis, retiring at the rank of captain after 38 years of distinguishable service. He was a chief for six years and during those years he touched so many lives as a friend, mentor, coworker, and guardian. His life was taken from me, from us, by an opportunist who had no regards for human life or the law. This didnt have to happen. It mustve been gods plan for david. We need to come together as a community into better, teach our young people that life is very precious. As a family we are going to be taking some time to focus our attention on healing. Its very important as we move forward. We would like davids legacy to be that of a loving husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle, friend, colleague, and most importantly a child of god. I would like to thank you all for coming, god bless you all. [screaming] [no audio] [shouting] turn the sound down. [shouting] [chanting] [shouting] turn the sound down. [shouting] [chanting] [shouting] rep. Nadler i hope mr. Jordan will never complain about the length of my Opening Statement. Without objection i will insert the committees audiovisual policy into the record of this hearing. And note the minority do not give the committee the 48 hour notice required by that policy. Without objection, other Opening Statements will be included in the record. I will now introduce todays witnesses. William barr has served as the attorney general of the United States since february 14, 2019, having previously served in the same position from 1991 to 1993 under president george h. W. Bush. He also served as deputy and assistant attorney general and the office of Legal Counsel under the bush administration, was a member of the domestic policy staff under president reagan, served in the Central Intelligence agency, and was a law clerk for the u. S. Court of appeals for the d. C. Circuit judge in addition to his he did get Public Service, he also has Extensive Service practicing law in the private sector. He received his ma from kobe Columbia University and a jd from George Washington school of law. We welcome the attorney general and we thank him for participating today. If you would please rise, i will begin by swearing you in. If you could raise your right hand, or lefthand. Do you swear or affirm the testimony you are about to give is true and correct to the best of your knowledge, information, and belief, so help you god. Let the record show the witness has answered in the affirmative. Thank you and please be seated. Please note the written statement will be entered into the record in its entirety. I ask that you summarize your testimony in five minutes. To help you stay within that time, there is a timing light on your table. When the light switches from green to yellow, you have one minute to conclude your testimony. When the light turns red it signals your five minutes have expired. Mr. Barr, you may begin. A. G. Barr good morning mr. Chairman, Ranking Member jordan. I am pleased to be here this morning. On behalf of the department of justice i want to pay my respects to your colleague, congressman john lewis. An indomitable champion of civil rights and the rule of law. I think it is especially important to remember today he pursued his cause passionately and successfully with unwavering commitment to nonviolence. As i said in my confirmation hearing, the attorney general has the unique obligation. He holds in trust the fair and Impartial Administration of justice. He must ensure there is one standard of justice that applies to everyone equally and criminal cases are handled evenhandedly based on the law and the facts and without regard to political or personal considerations. I can tell you i have handled criminal matters that have come to me for decision in this way. The president has not attempted to interfere in these decisions. 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 and that is precisely what i have done. It is because i feel complete freedom to do what i think is right that induced me to serve once again as attorney general. As you just said, mr. Chairman, i served under president h w bush, and after that i spent many years in the corporate world. Was almost 70 years old and slipping happily into retirement. I have nothing to prove and no desire to return to government. I had no prior relationship with President Trump. Let me turn briefly to the several pressing issues of the day. The horrible killing of george floyd in minneapolis understandably jarred the whole country and forced us to reflect on longstanding issues in the nation. Those issues relate to the relationship between Law Enforcement and the africanamerican community. Given our history, it is understandable that among black americans therell be some ambivalence and distrust towards the police. Until just 50 years ago or so, our laws and our institutional institutions were explicitly racist, explicitly discriminatory. It was not until the 1960s that the Civil Rights Movement finally succeeded in tearing down the jim crow edifice. Our laws finally came to formally embody the guarantee of equal protection. Since then the work of securing civil rights has focused on reforming institutions to ensure they better conform to our laws and to our aspirations. That work, it is important to a been acknowledge, has increasingly successful. Police forces are far more diverse than they have ever been, and there are both more black police chief send more please Police Chiefs and black officers in the ranks. Although the death of george floyd at the hands of police was a shocking event, the fact is these events are fortunately quite rare. According to statistics compiled by the washington post, the number of unarmed black man killed by police so far this year is eight. The number of unarmed white men killed by police over the same period of time is 11. The overall numbers of Police Shootings have been decreasing. Nevertheless, every instance of Excessive Force is unacceptable, and must be addressed appropriately through Legal Process as is happening now in minneapolis. Apart from the numbers, i think these events strike a deep chord in the black community because they are perceived as manifestations of a deeper lingering concern that in encounters with police, blacks will not be treated evenhandedly. They will not be given the benefit of the doubt and treated with greater suspicion. Senator tim scott has recounted the numerous times he has been unjustifiably pulled over on capitol hill, and as one prominent black professional in washington said to me, African Americans often feel treated as suspects first and citizens second. I think these concerns are legitimate. At the same time i think it would be an oversimplification to treat the problem as a racism as rooted in some deep seating deepseated racism generally infecting our Police Department. It seems more likely the problem stems from a complex mix of factors that can be addressed with focused attention over time. We in Law Enforcement must be conscious of the concerns and ensure we do not have two systems of justice. Unfortunately, some have chosen to respond to George Floyds death in a far less constructive way by demonizing police, promoting slogans like all cops are bastards, proposing proposals to defund the police. The demonization of the places of the police is not only unfair and inconsistent with principles that all people should be treated as individuals, but gravely injurious to innercity communities. When communities pillory police, officers naturally become more riskaverse and crime rates soar. Unfortunately we are seeing that now in many of our cities. The threat to black lives posed by crime on the street is massively greater then any threat posed by Police Misconduct. The leading cause of death for young black males is homicide. Every year approximately 7500 black americans are victims of homicide. The vast majority of them, around 90 , are killed by other blacks, mainly by gunfire. Each of those lives matter. It is for this reason that in selected cities where there has been an upsurge in Violent Crime, we are stepping up the activities of our joint anticrime task forces. Finally i want to address a different breakdown in the rule of law that weve witnessed over the past two months. In the wake of George Floyds death, violent rioters and anarchists have hijacked legitimate protests to reach to wreak senseless havoc and destruction on innocent victims. The Current Situation in portland is a telling example. Every night for the past two months, a mob of hundreds of rioters have laid siege to the federal courthouse and other nearby federal property. The rioters have come armed with powerful slingshots, tasers, andgehammers, rifles, explosive devices. Inside the courthouse are at relatively small number of federal Law Enforcement personnel charged with a defensive mission to protect the courthouse. What unfolds nightly around the courthouse cannot reasonably be called protests. It is by any objective measure an assault on the government of the United States. As elected officials of the federal government, every member of this committee, regardless of your political views or your feelings about the trump should condemn violence against federal officers and the disruption of federal destruction of federal property. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Your listening listing for me the areas of concern in your Opening Statement, and i am looking forward to addressing them all. Rep. Nadler we will now proceed under the five minute rule with questions and i will recognize myself for five minutes. On july 22, you joined the president as he announced the expansion of operation legend let me start that again. On july 22, you joined the president as he announced the expansion of operation legend, an initiative to combat Violent Crime in kansas city with approximately 61 million in doj grants. I am confused as the purpose of launching operation legend at this moment in time. In december of last year, you announced that the department would divert over 70 million in grants to seven u. S. Cities under an initiative called operation relentless pursuit, correct . A. G. Barr thats right. Rep. Nadler operation relentless pursuit targeted a familiar list of cities, places like albuquerque, baltimore and kansas city, correct . A. G. Barr correct. Rep. Nadler at the same press conference, you claimed 200 arrests have been made under operation legend. Correct . A. G. Barr correct. Rep. Nadler but you misspoke. A. G. Barr correct. Rep. Nadler the u. S. Attorneys Office Confirmed only a single arrest had been made under the auspices of operation legend. Correct . A. G. Barr i dont know. Rep. Nadler the 199 other arrests were made under relentless pursuit or other programs. A. G. Barr that was correct. Rep. Nadler i think you can be forgiven for being confused. Operation legend appears to be little more than a repackaging of existing operations. Why all the drama . Why join the president to announce a bold new operation that appears to be another bold neither bold nor new . Understandably, americans are very suspicious of your motives. There are those who believe youre sending federal Law Enforcement into these cities not to combat Violent Crime, but to help with the president s reelection efforts. The president has made clear he wants conflict between protesters and police to be a central theme of his campaign. Let me ask you directly. Yes or no. Did you rebrand existing project under project legend in order to assist the president an Election Year . Attorney general, would you agree with me at least on principle that it is improper for the department of justice to divert resources and Law Enforcement personnel in an effort to assist the president s Reelection Campaign . A. G. Barr no. In the fall we did inaugurate an anticrime initiative because we were concerned about increasing Violent Crime in a number of cities and we call that relentless pursuit. Unfortunately, covid intervened, and our agents who were detailed for these assignments cannot perform the operation, so the operation was squelched by covid. We could not complete or make much progress on relentless pursuit. However, in the intervening time, we saw Violent Crime continuing to rise, and a lot of that was triggered by the events after the death of george floyd. So we did reboot the program after covid started breaking and we could commit to Law Enforcement resources to actually accomplish the mission, which is to reduce Violent Crime. I regret covid interrupted our Law Enforcement activities, but it doesnt obviate the fact that there is serious Violent Crime in the cities. Police departments and mayors have been asking us for help, and we have put in additional federal agents and investigators to help deal with it. Rep. Nadler yes or no. Have you discussed the president s Reelection Campaign with the president or with any white house official or any surrogate of the president . A. G. Barr i will not get into my discussions with the president. Rep. Nadler have you discuss that topic with him . Yes or no . A. G. Barr not in relation to this program. I didnt ask that. I asked if you discussed a. G. Barr im a member of the cabinet and there is election going on. Obviously the topic comes up in cabinet meetings and other meetings. It should not be a surprise that the topic of the election comes up. Rep. Nadler i did not say i was surprised. I just asked you if you have done that. It is part of those conversations, have you ever discussed the current or future deployment of federal Law Enforcement . A. G. Barr in connection with what . Rep. Nadler in connection with what you just said. In connection with your discussions with the president or other people around him of his Reelection Campaign, have you discussed the current or future deployment of federal Law Enforcement . A. G. Barr i will not get into my discussions with the president , but i made it clear i would like to pick the cities based on Law Enforcement need and neutral criteria. Rep. Nadler you cannot tell me whether you discussed a. G. Barr i will not discuss what i discussed with the president. Rep. Nadler can you commit today the federal government will not use federal Law Enforcement as a prop for the Reelection Campaign . You cannot hide behind legal fictions this time. It is out in the open. The people can see what you are doing for themselves. The president wants footage for his campaign ads and you appear to be serving it up as ordered. In most of these cities, the protests had begun to wind down before you marched in and confronted the protesters. The protesters are not mobs, they are mothers, veterans, mayors. Real leadership would entail deescalation, collaboration, and looking for ways to peaceably resolve our differences. Instead you used pepper spray on american citizens. You did it in washington. You did it at lafeyette square. You expanded it to portland, now you are projecting fear and violence nationwide in pursuit of obvious political objectives. Shame on you. My time is expired. What purpose does mr. Jordan seek recognition . A. G. Barr could i have a moment . Rep. Nadler my time is expired. To what purpose does mr. Johnson seek recognition . Rep. Johnson questions for the witness. I will yield the floor to him to respond. A. G. Barr you have conflated two different things. The effort, like legend, is to deal with Violent Crime committed on the streets, predatory violence like murder and shootings, which are soaring in some cities right now. That does not involve encountering protesters as you refer to it. Civil disturbance is a different set of issues. I reject the idea that the department is flooded anywhere and attempted to suppress demonstrators. We make a clear distinction between demonstrators rep. Johnson this is my time a. G. Barr the fact of the matter is, you take portland. Portland, the courthouse is under attack. Federal resources are inside the perimeter around the courthouse defending it from two months of daily attacks where people marched to the court, try to gain entrance, and have set fires, thrown things, used explosives, and injured police, including this past weekend, perhaps permanently blinding three federal officers with lasers. We are on the defense. We are not out looking for trouble. If the state and the city would provide Law Enforcement services that other jurisdictions do, we would have no need to have additional marshals in the courthouse. Rep. Johnson on behalf of hundreds of millions of americans, thank you for that clarification and for being here and thank you for your Service Today and your willingness to do this in challenging times. Mr. Attorney general, we are very appreciative. It is not an easy job but it is a vitally important job. I appreciate what you said in your Opening Statement which is what you said in your confirmation hearing, the attorney general has a unique obligation, he holds in trust the fair and Impartial Administration of justice. We appreciate that. The democrats have asserted this morning, and they continue to say in the media that under your leadership the Justice Department has become highly politicized. Why is that a totally unfounded allegation . A. G. Barr because what i have been trying to do is restore the rule of law. The rule of law is in essence that we have one rule for everybody. If you apply one rule to a, the same rule applies to b. I felt we did not have that at the department previously. We had strayed. I would ask people i am supposedly punishing the president s enemies and helping his friends. What enemies have i indicted . Can you point to one indictment that has been under the department that you feel has been unmerited, that you feel violates the rule of law . One indictment. You say i help the president s friends. The cases that are cited, the stone case and the flynn case, were both cases where i determined that some intervention was necessary to rectify the rule of law, to make sure people are treated the same. Stone was prosecuted under me, and i said all along i thought that was a righteous prosecution, i thought he should go to jail, and i thought the judges sentence was correct. But the lying prosecutors were trying to advocate for a sentence that was more than twice what anyone else in a similar position had ever served. This is a 67yearold man, firsttime offender, no violence, they were trying to put him in jail for seven to nine years. I was not going to advocate that. That is not the rule of law. I agree the president s friends do not deserve special breaks, but they also dont deserve to be treated more harshly than other people. Sometime that is a difficult decision to make, especially when you know you will be castigated for it. That is what the rule of law is and that is what fairness to the individual comes to, being willing to do what is fair to the individual. Rep. Johnson amen, and thank you for that. By contrast, what the previous doj did was politicize Law Enforcement. The Obama Administration sabotaged the trump transition, they illegally spied on the Trump Campaign and unmasked members of the Trump Campaign, they employed aggressive tactics on campaign officials, senior fbi officials carried over from the Obama Administration carried on their abuses into the Trump Administration and into the impeachment scam and all the rest. Let me ask you one question. My time is running out. President obamas attorney general eric holder referred to himself as president obamas wing man. He said in an interview im still enjoying what im doing, there is still work to be done, i am still the president s wing man. That is what he said famously. Is it the duty of the attorney general to be the president s wing man . A. G. Barr ive already described what i think the duty of the attorney general is. Rep. Johnson in your office you are then free to act independent of the president , isnt that true . A. G. Barr it is true, particularly on criminal cases, it is required. Rep. Johnson that is exactly what he has asked you to do. A. G. Barr yes. Rep. Johnson i yield back. Rep. Nadler ms. Lofgren . Mr. Attorney general, it is obvious what is happening here from the video rankinguring the members remarks. It is clear the president s playbook is to divert attention from his catastrophic failure in dealing with the covid19 situation. In canada, in europe, the virus has been reduced to such a level that people can go out and not worry about being infected. Here in the United States, millions of americans have been infected, tens of thousands are dying, and the president needs to divert from that failure. The playbook is to create the impression that there is violence, that he must send in federal troops and that the American People should be afraid of other americans and trust the president because he will send in troops to American Cities, and that is how he wants to win the election. It is one thing to fight crime with joint task forces. That involves the cooperation of state and local officials. The governor of oregon and the mayor of portland have asked that the federal troops leave because the reaction has been in reverse proportion. People are showing up because the troops are there. I would like to say most of them are nonviolent. We have all heard about the wall of moms. The wall of moms who show up to make sure people are safe. Here is what they say. They say they have been teargasssed night after night. They have been left vomiting. They have been shot at with beanbags, pepper spray. This brutality has created even more demonstrators. I would like to ask you this. When the president issues his executive orders, they indicated your department should prioritize investigations. Has your department started any investigations pursuant to the executive order the president issued . A. G. Barr which executive order . Rep. Lofgren the executive order that asked for the deployment of troops to protect the monuments and the federal facilities . A. G. Barr i would not say it was troops. We have initiated investigations, yes. We have made arrests. People who have been rioting and taking down statues. But i think your characterization of portland is completely false. Rep. Lofgren we can get into that. I would like to ask you a question about surveillance. We read a report that simulators knowing as stingrays are being used to collect phone call locations and even contacts of phone calls. Drills are being used with facial Recognition Technology and there is collection of internet browsing history. What specific authority is the department using for the surveillance tools . A. G. Barr i cannot speak to those instances if they occurred. I am glad to go and try to determine what you are talking about. Rep. Lofgren i am asking about authority. Not the details. A. G. Barr most of our cyber activities are conducted by the fbi under Law Enforcement powers to protect and detect federal prevent and attacked federal and detect federal crime. Rep. Lofgren i think the American Public should know that the surveillance technique isnt just about people in front of the courthouse. If a husbandandwife call each other and one of the spouses has a cell phone within range of one of these technologies, not only is the location, the actual content of that conversation can be scooped up and used in this knowledge. It really isnt just about the demonstrators. This is about the privacy of ordinary americans. It is being violated for political purposes, of trying to create a scene, create a reason to divert attention from covid. I think it is very unfortunate. It is a disservice to the American People. My time has expired. Rep. Nadler the gentlelady yields back. Can you ask those members who chose not to come to work to silence their cell phones on the video . Because it is distracting to what we are doing. Rep. Nadler that is not a point of order. I now recognize mr. Chabot. Rep. Chabot would it be accurate to say it is the administrations responsibility and youre part of the administration, to see that federal laws are upheld and the federal property is secure and safe and protected. Is that correct . A. G. Barr that is right. There are distinct missions. One mission is to enforce federal law. By the way, the federal government is the sovereign of the United States. We have two sovereigns in the United States and we enforce the federal law all over the country. Every square foot of the country, we enforce federal law. The other is protecting federal property. Specifically, u. S. Courthouses, which are the heart of federal property in all 93 jurisdictions in the United States. We have the obligation to protect federal courts, and the u. S. Marshall specifically has been given that obligation. Federal courts are under attack. Since when is it ok to try to burn down a federal court . If someone went down the street to the beautiful courthouse we have at the bottom of the hill and started breaking windows and firing industrial grade fireworks in to start a fire, throw kerosene balloons in and start fires in the court, is that ok . Is that ok now . The u. S. Marshals have a duty to stop that and defend the courthouse. That is what we are doing in portland. We are defending the courthouse. We are not looking for trouble. Rep. Chabot thank you. As far as weapons and devices that were utilized by the group of people, you mentioned trying to destroy the courthouse. They were literally trying to burn it down. It apparently did not give a hoot about the people occupied in the building. People were in danger. A. G. Barr that is absolutely right. Rep. Chabot as far as the weapons you mentioned, my understanding is the people attacking the building had among other things rifles, explosives, knives, saws, sledgehammers, tasers, rocks, slingshots, bricks. Lasers. Have i missed anything or does that cover it . A. G. Barr you have missed some things but that is a good list. They have powerful slingshots with ball bearings. They have used pellet guns. We have found those projectiles have penetrated marshals to the bone. They use the lasers to blind the marshals. They do start fires. They start fires if they can get the fire inside or through the windows, and they start fires along the outside of the courthouse. In the marshals come out to try to deal with the fire, they are assaulted. Rep. Chabot if local elected officials, mayors and City Councils and governors did their jobs and kept the peace, would it even be necessary for federal Law Enforcement personnel to be there in the first place . A. G. Barr no. That is exactly the point. Look around the country. Even where there are riots occurring, we have not had to put in the kind of reinforcements we have in portland because the state and local Law Enforcement does their job and will not allow rioters to come and just physically assault the courthouse. In portland, that is not the case. Rep. Chabot some have derisively referred to these Law Enforcement personnel as stormtroopers and worse. Does that accurately describe them . Would you like to set the record straight . A. G. Barr they are not stormtroopers. Normally we would have a group of deputy marshals in a court in suits and ties in civilian dress. Those would be the deputy marshals as a protective force for the court. After almost a month of rioting in portland, we sent in i think it was around the fourth of july timeframe, we sent in about 20 special operations marshals. Those are tactical teams who are padded and protected so they can deal with this kind of thing. Until last week i was told our stormtroopers from the department of justice amounted to 29 marshals in the courthouse. 29 marshals. Until it recently increased, i think there were 95 dhs federal protective service and other dhs officers trying to protect the courthouse and three other buildings. That is what we are trying to do. We are trying to protect federal functions and federal buildings, which are a small part of the city. The rioters go at them and we have gradually increased our numbers to protect those facilities. If the state would come in and keep peace on the streets in front of the courthouse, we would not need additional people at the courthouse. Rep. Chabot thank you, general. My time has expired. Rep. Nadler the gentlemans time has expired. Ms. Jackson lee . Rep. Jackson lee before i would submit a would like to shot at inople being portland. I would like to place that into the record. John lewis in 1963 said we are tired of being beaten by police and put in jail. We want our freedom now. Mr. Attorney general, in your remarks you indicated we have made great progress since that time and you indicated that the killing of george floyd was shocking. I disagree. It was outright coldblooded murder on the streets of america unfortunately by Police Misconduct. You seem to have a difficult time understanding systemic racism and institutional racism that has plagued so many. Mr. Attorney general, do you understand a black mothers or parents talk to their child or son. Do you know what that is . A. G. Barr i think i do. Rep. Jackson lee i do not know if you do, but trayvon martin, ahmaud arbery, sean bell, george floyd, black mothers and fathers have had to talk to their sons about Police Violence. I take no backseat to the history of this committee that has stood for good policing and not misconduct. I ask you this question. Does the trump Justice Department seek to end systemic racism and racism in Law Enforcement . I need a yes or no answer. A. G. Barr to the extent there is racism in any of our institutions in this country and the police, then obviously this administration will fully enforce it. Rep. Jackson lee you agree there is systemic racism . A. G. Barr where . Rep. Jackson lee let me continue a. G. Barr i do not agree there is systemic racism in the Police Department, but generally in this country. Rep. Jackson lee i am reclaiming my time. Do you understand the violent impact of racial profiling and you support the end of racial profiling, racial and religious profiling in the george floyd bill, including the removal of the strict interpretation of qualified immunity, which would leave individuals like Breonna Taylor and george floyd without any relief at all . A. G. Barr i am opposed to eliminating qualifying immunity and i do not agree it would leave victims of Police Misconduct without any remedy. Rep. Jackson lee let me share with you some aspects of profiling. After the death of george floyd found that while black people make up 19 of the minneapolis population and 9 of its police, they were on this receiving end of 58 of police use of force incidents. In addition, we have seen black men are twice as likely to be stopped and searched. Hispanic drivers 65 more likely to receive a ticket and native americans in arizona three times more likely to search and be stopped. Let me ask you the questions of how we respond to that. The Justice Department has many tools at its disposal to reduce Police Violence and practice investigations, practice to end bad policing and Police Violence. It addresses Police Violence at an institutional level rather than focusing on a few cases. If you understand that, then why has your department only pursued one practice investigation since President Trump took office to stop systemic racism . A. G. Barr if you read my statement or listened to my statement, i did specifically acknowledge there was a difficulty in this country with the africanamerican community. Rep. Jackson lee i have short time. Can you tell me why you have not done a pattern and practice . What is the reason . A. G. Barr you asked me what i thought the response was, i thought the response is the training of police and i think the Police Believe that is the response. I was talking to a black rep. Jackson lee mr. Attorney general, i want to respect you, but i have a short time. For example, 18 usc section 242 makes unlawful the denial of rights under the color of law. Can you defend the fact that in the first several months of fy 2020, federal prosecutors filed only 242 charges in just 27 cases in the trump doj, and were you aware that in fy 2019 federal prosecutors brought two section 242 charges in just 49 cases in the United States and are you aware of how many cases we have had . Fy,200 74, which means in 2019, only 27 out of every 100,000 prosecutors related to section 242 charges. Do you have a reason for that . A. G. Barr yes i do. I will get you the numbers. I dont know them off the top of my head but actually our criminal prosecutions under 241 and 242 are extremely strong and comparable to if not exceed prior administrations. At the beginning of this year, very few jurisdictions had grand juries that were open. No grand juries rep. Jackson lee i think the reason is because it was not your focus. Your focus was to let out friends like roger stone and Paul Manafort while tamir rice whose case has not been taken up, was playing with a toy gun and was killed by police at the age of 12. Breonna taylor was sleeping in her apartment. She was killed by police. Rayshard brooks, 27, was killed just for sleeping in his car in a wendys parking lot. George floyd, known as a humble man, was murdered in the streets of minneapolis crying i cant breathe. I would hope the doj would focus on systemic racism. There is good policing. That is what we are trying to do in the Judiciary Committee and that is what we need you to join us on and recognize institutional racism does exist and until we accept that we will not finish our job and reach the goals and aspirations of our late iconic john lewis. With that i yield back. Rep. Nadler the gentlelady yields back. Mr. Gohmert . Rep. Gohmert attorney general barr, we have been hearing about these peaceful protests in major cities around the country controlled by democratic mayors and City Councils. You have had a lot of experience. Have you ever seen so many people hurt, injured, and killed at peaceful protests in your life . A. G. Barr i have not seen it, not at a peaceful protest. As i have said from the beginning, the peaceful protests in many places are being hijacked by a hardcore of instigators, violent instigators. They become violent and their primary direction of violence is to injure police. Police casualties far exceed anything on the civilian side. Rep. Gohmert werent there over 50 Police Injured in chicago in recent days . Now i am hearing this allegation that this administration is helping spread the coronavirus. Covid19. And yet these are some of the same people that just castigated the president for shutting down travel from the location where the virus was coming from. Now some seem more interested in defending the Chinese Communist party than they are our own country. What occurred to me, hearing this allegation about the administration helping spread covid, would it be a good idea perhaps if that is the big concern, that may be the federal government should shut down the protests during this covid19 spread so we can satisfy our colleagues that they are doing more to stop it . Has that ever been a consideration . A. G. Barr i have never considered that. Rep. Gohmert it would apparently stop some of the allegations being thrown. I know you know history. Going back to 1917, the bolshevik revolution, the mao revolution, some of these tactics we are seeing are not new. Trying to get even david horwitz, i introduced as a full a former socialist, he said i was a fullblown communist, and he pointed out that he started looking away from the group he was in because he saw they were interested in trying to provoke the police to kill somebody so they could create mayhem. You are familiar with that tactic by marxists, are you not . A. G. Barr yes. Rep. Gohmert it is a dangerous time. Let me ask you. I know you know that u. S. Attorneys are supposed to serve at the pleasure of the president. You know bill clinton fired 93 u. S. Attorneys on the same day. Do you know what made u. S. Attorney berman think he was the exception who did not serve at the pleasure of the president . What caused him to think he owned that position . A. G. Barr i think part of it was he seems to have the view that because he was court appointed, and there is a provision in law for Court Appointment of a u. S. Attorney as essentially a placeholder until the administration gets somebody, that he felt he could not be removed by the president because he was courtappointed. That is not correct. Rep. Gohmert some judges fail to know what my constitutional law professor knew, and that is all courts except one of their oh their existence and continuation and jurisdiction to the u. S. Congress. Hopefully mr. Berman will figure that out at some point. Is bruce orr still working for the fbi . A. G. Barr he works for the department of justice. Rep. Gohmert we have heard so much information about his being the gobetween between the dnc, the clinton campaign, fusion gps, christopher steele, the russian propaganda in his dossier, and i know kleinsmith, Christopher Wray indicated he had been given the chance to resign, get a better job. Im wondering how long bruce or r is going to be staying where he is. It is incredible to me he is still there. A. G. Barr i cannot talk about individual personnel matters. Rep. Gohmert thank you for your service. I am sorry for the abuse you have taken when youre just trying to do your job. Appreciate it very much. I yield back. The gentlemans time is expired. The chair recognizes the gentleman from tennessee. Rep. Cohen i am the chairman on the subcommittee on the constitution, civil rights, and civil liberties. This is a pertinent hearing to me. I would like to ask you if you will work with us and allow the head of the Civil Rights Division to testify before this committee this fall . A. G. Barr i will talk to him about it. Rep. Cohen we encourage it. A. G. Barr i will talk to him about it. Rep. Cohen i have closely watched actions taken by the federal government in Lafayette Park and portland oregon. According to a doj document received by this committee, 1500 federal agents were deployed to confront protesters in washington, d. C. At Lafayette Park which has long been honored and accepted as of a place of protest in our nations capital, on the day of first june, the world watched in horror as federal agents deployed by the administrations and with you present and telling him to get it done, used force to clear Lafayette Park so the president , with you and others at your side, could walk across the park and have a photo op in front of st. Johns church. This was anathema to the diocese and the rector of the church and an affront to the constitution and the American People. Giving the given the time and the coordinated attack against the peaceful demonstrators, it strains credulity this was not planned for political purposes. Just yesterday, major demarco testified to another committee in congress that the protesters were peaceful and that is what the majority of people have said, and the response was excessive. When did you first learn the president planned to walk through the park and go to st. Johns church . A. G. Barr first i would like to respond to rep. Cohen would you answer my question . My time is limited. A. G. Barr i learned sometime in the afternoon the president might come out of the white house, and later in the afternoon i heard he might go over to the church. Rep. Cohen it was necessary the park be cleared . A. G. Barr it had nothing to do with that. The plan to move . Rep. Cohen it was necessary that the park be cleared and it was done and you said get it done. I have the time, thank you. In portland we have seen mothers and veterans who were peacefully protesting, not threatening the federal courthouse, beaten and gassed. Unidentified armed federal agents violently attacked emmons traders in a violation of the First Amendment freedom of assembly and arrested citizens without suspicion in a violation of Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures and a warrant requirement. Youve gone through the fifth amendment and due process and negated it. In the 10th amendment, which leaves general policing to the Law Enforcement of the state has been forgotten. Maybe what happened was your secret police were poorly trained, just like your bureau of prisons guards were poorly trained and allowed the most notorious inmate in our nations last several years, jeffrey epstein, to conveniently commit suicide. Sad. You misled congress and the American People on Robert Muellers finding with your summary of his report. It was issued about a month before you released the redacted portion of the Mueller Report. But you set the stage, you set the stage for the special, objected to the accuracy of how it was reported by the press, and federal judge Reggie Walton appointed by george w. Bush declared your summary was distorted and the court cannot trust you. Further, judge walter stated your report was a calculated attempt to influence Public Disclosure of the Mueller Report in favor of President Trump. This Committee Still does not have the unredacted robert Mueller Report. America has still not seen the unredacted report. Your excuses for not releasing it because it has to do with ongoing cases no longer exists because the ongoing cases have been completed or commuted or finished. Other attorney generals worked with the committee to see the American Public and the Judiciary Committee had unredacted copies of that report. You have gone to court to stall it. This report needs to be given to this committee. In michael cohen, you treated him differently than Michael Flynn and roger stone. In Michael Flynn, youve attempted to dismiss the charges even after he twice pled guilty. With roger stone, you went further. Mr. Barr, john lewis said if not me, if not who, if not now, when . That is why i introduce the bill that would require this committee to require this committee to investigate your conduct as attorney general and determine whether you should be impeached. That is my constitutional duty. I yield back the balance of my time. A. G. Barr may i respond to these . I would like to seek recognition for unanimous consent requests. Thank you. I would like to introduce a slight article entitled why trump chose portland which describes the racial history of the state and the Portland Police bureau. I would also like to include an oped from mary mccord who says her words were twisted to justify the decision to drop charges against Michael Flynn. After hed already pled guilty. I would like to introduce an oped describing the political interference in the roger stone case and why he resigned from the department of justice and i would like to introduce a statement from over 2600 former doj officials calling for attorney general barrs resignation because of his assault on the rule of law and a letter from the new york bar urging congress to commencing breeze in a pattern of conduct by attorney general barr that threatens Public Confidence in the fair and Impartial Administration of justice, and a letter from 27 of the district of columbias most prominent law professors, calling for an investigation into mr. Barrs conduct. And a letter from over 80 of the George Washington University Law school faculty, your alma mater saying his actions have continued to create a clear and present danger to the evenhanded administration of justice and civil liberties. Without objection. One more unanimous consent request . On this side . Go ahead. This is the argument where jerry nadler says antifa violence in portland is a myth. Without objection. Mr. Collins is recognized for five minutes. Rep. Collins wow. I am beginning to believe you are probably the cause of the common cold and possibly even covid19, im not sure. Everything has been thrown at you. Including now your alma mater does not like you anymore. The chairman said why all the drama. That is the most outrageous ironic statement i have heard from this committee and the last 18 months that i have ever heard, the drama we are bringing up today. We are seeming to contort ourselves to get to someway to show that you have nefarious motives. I believe the biggest problem you have is telling the truth. I believe that is the problem they have with you. You tell the truth and you take responsibility for your actions and i think that is why you are being attacked. I want to continue on this peaceful protest. You made a comment a second ago talking about the courthouse just inside the street, what if they decided you think this body would rise up if they decided to go tonight and paint the Capital Building . A. G. Barr this body, im not sure. Rep. Collins i think this side would. Im not sure about the other. Maybe we are back to 1812 again. The other question i have come about comments about stormtroopers from the speaker of the house, that is a direct reference to the paramilitary wing of the nazi party. You believe that puts our Law Enforcement community as the son of a state trooper, i want to know your opinion. Dont you think it encourages the violence we are seeing and encourages participation against the police . A. G. Barr i think that is possible. I think it is irresponsible to call these Law Enforcement officers stormtroopers. Rep. Collins we are seeing that played out over and over. Lets switch back to Something Else that is i think we have talked about the investigations, especially going with flynn. Do you believe there was a basis to go after general flynn . What we have seen so far, what has been released, instead of keeping the investigation open, do you believe there was a basis for the beginning of this investigation to start with or continuing it . A. G. Barr i would say i asked another u. S. Attorney in st. Louis who had 10 years in the fbi and 10 years in the department of justice as a career prosecutor to take a look at it, and he determined based on documents that have not been provided to flynns side and not provided to the court that there was no basis to investigate. Furthermore, it was clearly established by the document the fbi agent that interviewed him did not believe he thought he was lying. Rep. Collins there is another part that concerns what has been given to the courts and the interviews, and that is that the facts were not disclosed to flynn prior to the interview. That seems like a brady violation. Do you believe there is a brady violation . A. G. Barr there was not a brady violation, but what the council concluded was the only purpose should of the interview, the only purpose was to try to catch him and therefore there was not a legit the interview was untethered to any legitimate investigation. Rep. Collins so is the top law as it shoulde top be and i think that is what you have done here. Continuing on the durham case, to your knowledge, and we are the last week or two, to your knowledge has Kevin Kleinsmith or anyone who is there attempted to redeem themselves by cooperating with you . It has been slow it a. G. Barr i cannot get into that. Rep. Collins i understand. I have another issue as we finish up and looking at this. I think the durham investigation is something most of us were waiting for because we cannot seem to get this committee to believe that the igs report is worth having something about this committee and there is not a democrat or republican that can make a legitimate claim why the Inspector General hasnt been called before the committee to explain his report except politics. That is what this committee is doing. I have another problem. I have written to you about this. That is with the District Attorney in fulton county, georgia, charging, making felony murder charges on end on an officer. The interesting part, what we do is, where you will wear the District Attorney failed to seek an indictment for grand jury or waited for an investigation before bringing up charges. Were you aware of that . A. G. Barr i was. Rep. Collins as an attorney and looking at this from the environment we have with Police Officers constantly under attack from this committee and others all over the country, especially from the speaker of the house, as an attorney and especially a prosecutor, do you think it is appropriate to charge a Law Enforcement officer with a crime as severe as felony murder without giving the investigation more than days and without an indictment from a grand jury and why you announced the charges to lay a case that is full of falsehoods . A. G. Barr i have said i wouldve preferred that he had used the grand jury and had waited until the Georgia Bureau had completed its investigation. Rep. Collins i appreciate your help. And with that i yield back. The chair recognizes mr. Johnson from georgia. Rep. Johnson thank you. Your Opening Statement reads like it was written by alex jones or roger stone. Do you stand by that statement . A. G. Barr yes. Sen. Johnson i am sure we can agree on something. We disagree on a whole lot but im sure we can agree on the fact that President Trump is a prolific tweeter. Isnt that correct . A. G. Barr he seems to be. Sen. Johnson he tweeted many times about the roger stone sentencing. Didnt he . A. G. Barr i dont know how many times. Rep. Johnson any times. You are aware of them because you said it hurt you from doing your job. Isnt it true that when prosecutors in the roger stone case filed a memo with the court recommending a sentence of 79 years in prison, a few hours later President Trump tweeted that it was a disgrace. The sentence recommendation was, quote, a disgrace. You are aware of that . A. G. Barr yes. Rep. Johnson several hours after that, you filed with the court stating that the sentencing recommendation would be changed and you would be asking for a lighter sentence. For roger stone. Is that correct . A. G. Barr no, what is correct is that on february 10, monday, i gave instructions. I am answering your question. Sen. Johnson i am reclaiming my time. You filed a sentencing recommendation hours after President Trump tweeted his dissatisfaction with the stone recommendation. And you changed the recommendation. A. G. Barr the night before, monday night rep. Johnson i know your story. A. G. Barr i am telling my story. That is why i am here. Rep. Johnson you are here to answer my question. A. G. Barr the night before come on february 10 rep. Johnson reclaiming my time. I know you dont want to answer. The facts are clear. Sentencing recommendation made in the morning. Tweet in the afternoon. You change the sentencing recommendation. A. G. Barr the tweet was made at i think 1 30 or 2 00 in the morning. Rep. Johnson the tweet was made before and after. He tweeted about it relentlessly and you agreed to that. When you filed your sentencing recommendation asking for a lower sentence a. G. Barr a. G. Barr a. G. Barr i didnt ask for a lower sentence. Rep. Johnson you said he would ask for a lower sentence. What was the sentence recommended by the lying prosecutors according to the sentencing guidelines calculations . A. G. Barr it was within the guidelines. But it was not within Justice Department policy. Rep. Johnson you are expecting the American People to believe that you did not do what trump wanted you to do. When you changed that sentencing recommendation and lowered it for roger stone. You think the American People dont understand that you are carrying out trumps a. G. Barr i had not discussed my sentencing recommendation with anyone at the white house. Or anyone sen. Johnson you did what the president wanted you to do. That is what you did. Me ask you. Et do you think it is fair for a 67yearold man to be sent to prison for 79 years. Rep. Johnson reclaiming my time. It was in accordance with the sentencing. A. G. Barr it was not. Rep. Johnson you just said that it was an according to the sentencing. I will move on from that. In your time as attorney general , for George Herbert walker bush, you never changed the sentencing recommendation for a friend of George Herbert walker bush. Did you . A. G. Barr no. As i recall rep. Johnson over the course of , yourime with trump tenure with trump, you have changed two sentencing recommendations, not one but two. Correct . A. G. Barr which where they . Rep. Johnson Michael Flynn. A. G. Barr i didnt change it. Rep. Johnson you indicated that , you changed it because the original flynn sentencing recommendation was for flynn to serve 06 months, but under your authority, the Justice Department supplemented that recommendation with a pleading that stated the department of with flynnseement lawyers that probation would be a reasonable sentence, and the doj would not be sinking prison seeking probe seeking prison time for Michael Flynn. Is that correct . A. G. Barr i dont think that is what it said. Rep. Johnson that is what it said. Go back and read it. Reclaiming my time. Prior to you time has expired. You can give a speech or you can ask questions. If you do the latter, you need to let the witness answer the questions. That is the chairs obligation, the responsibility to allow that mr. Buck is recognized for five minutes. Rep. Buck thank you for appearing before the committee today. There is a disturbing pattern we have seen throughout history with totalitarian systems of government. The leaders first seek to disarm the population. Then they encourage goon squads to suppress opposing voices and once they have silenced the opposition, these authoritarian leaders seek policy that crush leadership. The american left has been infected with the same totalitarian desire to remove firearms and silence opposing views. As part of a campaign to achieve its political ends. We have seen this scenario play out in every major democrat run city in america. Progressive leaders seek to disarm americans while watching crime rates soar. We even saw a failed president ial and Senate Candidate tell americans, we are going to take your ar15s and your ak47s. Now the american left is actively cheering as this fascist militia antifa rages in the streets. Antifa is a Domestic Terrorist Organization that hijacks peaceful rallies, organizes armed riots, attacks peaceful protesters, burns buildings, loots stores and spreads hate. Attacksof antifa linked began circulating in 2017. These thugs often armed with sticks and pepper spray and other instruments showed up to silence College Republican groups at berkeley. The left was silent. Jumped into, antifa the National Conversation after journalists were brutally attacked in portland. No arrests were made. The one year ago today, the wall street journal ran an oped saying portland has to do something to deter Political Violence or the city will get more of it. Of course, the citys feckless leadership has only encouraged these violent antics. We have seen 61 straight nights of violence in portland. Antifas totalitarian activities are now oozing to other democratrun cities. They organized a familyfriendly event in honor of Law Enforcement appreciation day. The atmosphere was peaceful and the counterprotesters were given plenty of space. A swarm of violent antifa thugs infiltrated peaceful black lives matter counterprotesters and began assaulting propolice americans. These are 20 and 30yearold thugs attacking 40, 50, even 80yearold americans will only want to show their support for police. Police were ordered to retreat a. A Police Detective apologize for this terrible decision. Imtive rogers said, sorry on behalf of the rankandfile. That is not us. That is not who we are. It kills me that we let good people down. He continued, i found out that a retreat order was given by the commander. We had one lieutenant step up and say we are not leaving. He said, these people will get killed if we do not stay. So he kept his people there. That is the reason this thing did not get worse. These are sad times in america. America. Sad times in free speech on the right to keep and bear arms are both being threatened by violent anarchists. This has to stop. We cannot and people continue terrorizing our country. Theyou please tell us about appropriate use of civil and criminal call statutes to address violent criminal groups . A. G. Barr in the wake of the beginning of these riots, i asked our joint Terrorism Task to be our principal means of developing evidence and prosecuting violent extremists terrorists who are involved in these activities. One of the tools we would use is rico. That does not mean we currently have a case pending. Do you have anything you want to say in response to the speeches that have been given by the other side when you have been cut off . The gentleman time is expired. A. G. Barr and i ask for a recess . 10 minutes . A. G. Barr five. We will stand in recess for five minutes. The committee is in recess. The committee is in session. Thank you. You just told us that nothing was ever elevated