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 maia 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 entering your Current Service in the Trump Administration. Welcome. 100 and 50 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 such pettyext for 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 americans and 50,000 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. 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. Thet, under your Leadership 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. Direction Ther Department officials have downplayed the effects of systemic racism and abandoned the victims of Police Brutality. Abusive Police Departments accountable for their actions and expressed open hostility to the black lives matter movement. 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. Again, you, and personally, have interfered with ongoing criminal investigations to protect the president and his allies from the consequences of his 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 league, 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 got 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 had to protect americans from that kind of corruption. We have a responsibility to ensure the Justice Department and its attorney general administer justice lee in 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. 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 i must 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. The New York Times said this paying an aide to investigate, sending a young lady to meet papadopoulos. They said someone pretending to 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. Intelligence i would consider evidence of a conspiracy. I about James Clapper . 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. A proper never 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 . Member, this is struck, the guy ran thee run investigation. 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 of the beacon process him or to get him fired. Think about what the obama doj, what their administration did in the last month they were in power fourth they were empowered . 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 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 all i it 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 russian, 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 the threat to this. Can we play that video, please . [no audio] collects clear and how i characterize it. Its mostly a protest. It is not, generally speaking, unruly. X peaceful protests. Peaceful protests peaceful protests. Peaceful protests. Protests. L 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 loss ofafter the tragic 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. Chief for six years and during those years he touched so many lives as a friend, mentor, coworker, and guardian. 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] [blank] [no audio] oh, yeah. Turn the sound down. ]barking dogs [shouting] turn the sound down. [shouting] [chanting] [shouting] 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 2019, since february 14, 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 ensive Serv