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 Service Plaque to practicing law in the private sector. He received his ma from Kobe 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. Fair andin trust the 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. Chairman,t said, mr. I served under president h w bush, and after that i spent many years in the corporate world. I am almost 70 years old and slipping happily into retirement. I am nothing to prove and no desire to return to government. I had no prior relationship with President Trump. Theme turn bleakly to several let me turn briefly to the several pressing issues of the day. The horrible killing of george floyd in minneapolis understandably jarred the 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. Isen our history, it understanding that among black americans therell be some ambivalence and distrust towards the police. So,l just 50 years ago or our laws and our institutional 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 into our aspirations. That work is important to work, it is that important to a knowledge, has been increasingly successful. Police forces are far more diverse may have been, theyre more black 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 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 also often feel treated as suspects first and citizen second. I think these concerns are legitimate. At the same time i think it would be an oversimplified an oversimplification to treat the problem as a racism infecting our Police Department. It seems more likely the problem extends from a complex mix of factors that can be addressed over time. Meet 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 grosslying irresponsible proposals to defund the police. The demonization of the places not only unfair and inconsistent with principles that all people should be treated as individuals, but gravely injurious to innercity communities. When communities pillory commute pillory police, officers become more riskaverse and crime rates soar. We are seeing that now in many of our cities. Posed byt black lives 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. That inr this reason 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 riders and anarchists have hijacked legitimate protests to reach 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 riders have laid siege to the federal courthouse and other nearby federal property. Rioters have the come armed with slingshots, tasers, salt, knives, and explosive devices. Inside the courthouse are at relatively small number of federal 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 tion violence against federal officers and the destruction of federal property. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Listing for meur the areas of concern in your Opening Statement, and i am looking forward to addressing them all. Nadler we will now proceed under the five minute rule with questions and i will recognize myself for five minutes. 22, you joined the president as he announced the ansion of operation legend let me start that again. On july 20 second 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 Dollars of doj grants. Ofm confused as the purpose launching operation legend at this moment in time. In december of last year, you announce the department would divert 70 million in grant seven u. S. Cities correct . A. G. Barr thats right. Rep. Nadler operation relentless pursuit targeted familiar list of cities, places like albuquerque, baltimore coming 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 but you misspoke correct. Rep. Nadler but you misspoke. The u. S. Attorneys Office Confirmed only a single rest 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 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. Projectrebrand existing under project legend in order to assist the president an Election Year . Would you agree with me 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 cannot complete or make much progress on relentless pursuit. Timeer, in the intervening , we saw Violent Crime continuing to rise, and a lot of that was triggered by the events after the death of george floyd. Program afterthe 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 butenforcement activities, 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 circuit 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 . A. G. Barr not in relation to this program. Im a member of the cabinet and there is election going on. August with the topic comes up. It should not be a surprise that the topic of the election comes up. Rep. Nadler i did not say i was surprised. I ask 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 neat and based on neutral criteria. Rep. Nadler you cannot tell me whether you discussed a. G. Barr i will not tell you what i discussed with the president. Rep. Nadler can you commit it will not use the federal government as a prop for the Reelection Campaign . You cannot hide behind legal fictions this time. People see what youre are doing for themselves. Footage fort wants 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 he marched in and confronted the protesters. The protesters are not mobs, their mothers, veterans, mayors curate 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 in washington curate you did it at levy at square curate to expand it to portland, now youre expecting fear and violence nationwide in pursuit of obvious political objectives. Shame on you. My time is expired. What purpose does mr. Jordan secret ignition . A. G. Barr could i have a moment . Rep. Nadler my time is expired. To what purpose does mr. Johnson seek recognition . Nson questions for the witness. You have conflated two different things. The effort of legend is to confront Violent Crime. 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. That thethe idea department is flooded anywhere and attempted to suppress demonstrators. We make a clear distinction between demonstrators. Is, you of the matter 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 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 in your Service Today and your willingness to do this in challenging times. Mr. Attorney general, we are very appreciative. Job. A vitally important i appreciate what you said in your confirmation hearing. The attorney general has a unique obligation. The trust the fair and Impartial Administration of justice. 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. Theou apply one rule to a, same rule applies to b. I felt we did not have that at the department. We had strayed. I amask people supposedly punishing the president s enemies and helping the president s 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 in 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. Me,e was prosecuted under 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. The 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 them in jail for seven to nine years. I was not going to advocate that. That is not the rule of law. Friendsthe president s do not deserve special breaks, but they do not 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 , beingual comes to willing to do what is fair to the individual. Rep. Johnson amen, and thank you for that. Previousst, what the doj did was politicize Law Enforcement. The Obama Administrations appetizer sabotaged the trump transition, they spied on members of trump campaign, they employed aggressive tactics, senior fbi officials carried over from the Obama Administration carried on their abuses into the Trump Administration and into the impeachment stamp and all the last all the rest. Let me ask you one question. President obamas attorney general eric holder referred to himself as president obamas w