Come from. I guess secondly, ill just point out real quick again i think laura coates really talked well about the questioning of the attorney general about the lack of africanamericans in this building. I think the leadership shows there is a lack of any such advice by the fact you see his opening remarks where he talks about blackonblack crime and the whole narrative that Police Reform should not be tackled right now because its leading to increased crime. Now, the last time we had a conversation about this after ferguson, you know, jim comey and other people went out and claimed there was something called a ferguson effect. Research showed it was bogus. Were beginning to see that again this year. I think the attorney general could use some challenging on that line of on that thought process as well. What would you like to hear him asked about regarding that . In his opening remarks he talks about how police are risk adverse and as a result theyre essentially not doing their jobs. I got to tell you, you talk to Police Officers i talk to officers. I talk to federal agents. Thats not what im hearing. You know, they realize that theres something that needs to change and what you are seeing is sometimes in certain places you have leaders trying to manage that change. People are clearly saying, you know, you cant do the type of policing that has been done for years. And i think the attorney general would be a good person to actually try to help that process happen around the country rather than just saying, no, we shouldnt try to do that. Because its leading to some increase in crime in certain places. I think thats one of the questions i would have for him is simply what data you have to show theyre not doing their jobs essentially and what do you plan to do about that . Is it real or is it something hes just representing, right . I want to bring in anne milgram, one of our cnn analysts as we await this hearing to get back underway here. One of the big topics actually, let me listen in. Sir, in your opening statement, you are continuing with your sustained effort to undermine the russian interference in our election. In 2019 you sent a letter discounting Robert Muellers finding that Vladimir Putin interfered in the 2016 president ial election in sweeps and systematic fashion to benefit donald trump. Mr. Mueller sent you a letter calling you out for your mischaracterization, and you never corrected it. You delayed the release of the full report leaving the people stewing with your misleading summary with the claims. You called it the russian gate scandal. But the Justice Departments own Inspector General, your departments Michael Horowitz found that the investigation had been initiated properly and without political bias. Isnt that correct . No. That was not mr. Horowitzs finding . No. Youre wrong. He found it had he said he found im reclaiming my time without political bias. Reclaiming my time. In april of this year the Republicanled SenateIntelligence Committee unanimously found that russia interfered with our elections and attempted to undermine american democracy, correct . And i said so too. Is it ever appropriate, sir, for the president to illicit or accept foreign assistance in an election . Depends what kind of assistance. Is it ever appropriate for the president or president ial candidate to accept or solicit forr f foreign assistance of any kind in an election . No, its not appropriate. Sorry you had to struggle with that one, mr. Attorney general. Now lets turn to the First Amendment. Americans all across this country have been exercising their rights to peacefully protest Police Brutality against black people. I read your statement and listened to you this morning. Were aware of individuals engaged in violent acts. We agree thats wrong. But there was a lot missing from your statement. Youve also seen vast majority of protesters are peaceful. And despite that, unidentified federal agents have attempted to prevent these mothers, veterans, and peaceful americans from exercising their First Amendment rights. Even using unmarked vehicles to grab protesters off the street and using tear gas ammunitions against them. You forcefully condemned protesters this morning. Why have you not condemned the federal office as youre sending it to cities without proper training for attempting to takeaway the Constitutional Rights of americans peacefully protesting. Protesters are good. Demonstrations are good. What im condemning are people who commit crimes. Do you think its ever appropriate for officers to use force against Peaceful Protesters . Yes or no . Not against Peaceful Protesters. So you also dont mention in your Statement Today or your testimony that federal officers have even teargassed elected representatives. Sharon myron confirmed first hand last night i was teargassed by a federal occupying force. I saw them throw canisters of the poison into a nonviolent crowd including the elderly and vulnerable. Ted wheeler was teargassed. He called the actions abhorrent. These are elected representatives with grave concerns that officers are using abhorrent tactics including teargassing elderly nonviolent americans. Let me ask you, sir, do you think its ever appropriate to use tear gas on Peaceful Protesters . Yes or no . The problem in these things sometimes occur because its hard to separate people who my question is specific. Do you think its ever appropriate to use tear gas on Peaceful Protesters . Yes or no . It is appropriate to use tear gas when its indicated to d disperse an unlawfully assembly. Sometimes unfortunately Peaceful Protesters are affected by that. Theres Video Evidence as well. Im going to ask you to look at this video. Just so you know this is the video thats capturing the nations attention this weekend shot by tribune that video is of Christopher David a navy veteran being beaten and teargassed by the officers. Do you think that was appropriate . I didnt see them tear gas. There seemed to be gas in the area. I dont know what kind of gas it was and i dont know whether it was directed at him. Do you think what happened to mr. David was appropriate, mr. Barr . The Inspector Generals reviewing that particular instance. Well, do you think he deserved to get pepper sprayed and beaten to the point of broken bones . As i said, the Inspector General is going to review the incident. So as the top Law Enforcement official in our country, do you think americans who show up to peacefully protest should expect to be beaten and pepper sprayed and have their bones broken by federal officers . Well, i dont think that what was happening immediately around the courthouse was a peaceful protest. Thats not my question. My question is do you think as the chief reclaiming my time. Reclaiming my time. Mr. Barr, my question is do you think as the top Law Enforcement official in this country that people should expect to be beaten, pepper sprayed, and have bones broken by officers . Yes or no . I dont think Peaceful Protesters should face that. Thats correct. And isnt protecting the First Amendment freedom of americans as at least as important as protecting a building from vandalism . We fought ive not posed a question. We fought for a democracy for the right to speak freely and you are attempting to take that away. Whats worse, youre doing it for the sole purpose of furthering the president s political agenda and generating footage for Trump Campaign commercials. The Justice Department is responsible for protecting the Constitutional Rights of americans, not to serve as the president s personal bully or political director. And speaking of protesters, its worth remembering every suffragette, everybody abolitionist, protesters arent cha chaos. Theyre examples of american values. Theyre righteous and sometimes necessary. One of americas most beloved and effective protesters john lewis lies in state a thousand feet from here in a deserved place of honor. And sir, your failure to respect the peaceful protests in this country is a disgrace. Its unamerican, and its important to remember what the protests are about. Black lives matter. Abuse at the hands of police to black americans. I want you now to see a video that fairly represents peaceful protests all across america that you omitted from your testimony and your statement. There was a nineminute video shown by the other side. So its not online. Only part of it. [ Singing Hands up please dont shoot me ] mr. Chairman, just real quick. I dont think weve ever had a hearing where the witness wasnt allowed to respond to points made, questions asked, and attacks made. Not just in this hearing, not just in this committee, but every committee ive been on. Particularly when you think about the fact weve got the attorney general of the United States here. Gentleman does not have the time. I dont want the time. I just want the attorney general to be able to have enough time to respond to accusations and questions asked of him and you guys not cut him off. What you want is irrelevant. Mr. Chairman, am i going to get an additional two and a half minutes that mr. Systoleni had . The gentleman is recognized. General barr, thank you for your service to our country to ensure our country is safe. I encourage you to ignore the mob, these attacks from democrats, and the left wing biased mainstream media. Be strong and courageous for the mass majority of the country supports you and supports you rooting out corruption in the fbi and keeping our country safe from rioters, looters, and anarchists. I am happy youre at the helm of the doj and actually supporting the rule of law and fighting for justice. I want to touch on something that mr. Jordan spoke about in his opening remarks. I want to focus on the december 9th fisa report on carter page. Isnt it true the Inspector General found the fbi under the Obama Biden Administration made 17 significant errors in fisa applications to surveil candidate Trumps Campaign associate carter page . I think thats right. How many errors are acceptable when the fbi is targeting americans . Well, none are acceptable. Then there was the complete woods files failures the fbi operated under the Obama Biden Administration. The Inspector General found that 51 assertions in the fisa applications to surveil page, one supporting documentation, did not have the facts, and showed it was inaccurate. The Inspector General testified this should not have been one error yet he found 51 errors. Why is it important for surveillance targeting americans to be errorfree . Well, especially under fisa which, you know, is a counterintelligence tool and doesnt have the same builtin protections that the criminal justice process would have. Its very important because youre going to be spying on americans that you have you know, youve demonstrated an appropriate basis for doing that. And therefore theres a special burden on the Investigative Agency in this case the fbi to have Accurate Information as to the basis of their surveillance. You know, i think the bureau has been working very hard to correct those problems and to put in place a much more effective system of guaranteeing that the information is accurate. Isnt it true that fbi under the Obama Biden Administration cherry picked evidence to obtain a warrant to surveil carter page and ignore facts that cut across probable cause . I dont want to characterize it. This is part of whats under review. Some exculpatory information was not passed on to the court. Thats evident in the Inspector Generals report. I will yield the remainder of my time to mr. Jordan. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Attorney general, do you deploy federal Law Enforcement to enforce federal law . Yes. Do you delay federal law to protect federal property . Yes. Would the Federal Building in portland be standing today if you had not deployed federal Law Enforcement . I dont think so. There had been multiple attempts to set it afire. I have to say, i dont understand why a small contingent of marshals inside the court poses a threat to anybodys First Amendment rights. They set up a fence on federal property, i am told, around the court. And when people are arrested, its because theyre trying to come into the fence. These arent Peaceful Protesters. They bring power tools to cut through the wire and so forth to get in. This is a strange occupation of the state when you have, you know, a hundred, 120 federal people behind the fence trying to protect a building and all these people are trying to cut their way in. That is the occupation of the city . Thank you. Did the chicago fraternal order of Police President ask for your help . Did who ask for my help . The head of the fop in chicago . I think he did. I think he did. Previous exchange talked about mr. Horowitzs report. Is there anything youd like to add . You didnt get a chance to respond to that. My understanding of my recollection of the report didnt find there was no bias. He made that clear in subsequent testimony. What he said was he couldnt find documentary or other evidence demonstrating bias. Well, itd be helpful if mr. Horowitz could come in front of this committee and the individual who was raising that concern with you mr. Attorney general could ask mr. Horowitz himself about what he found in that report and subsequent reports that weve not had a hearing on. The gentlemans time is expired. Mr. Raskind. Thank you. Did i hear you say the unleashing of this assault with rubber bullets and pepper spray on 2,000 Peaceful Protesters was to defend the st. Johns Episcopal Church. I didnt understand ssay tha. It was to move the perimeter to i street. So it was legitimate in that case im not talking about the june 1st yeah, the june 1st assault on a lot of my constituents. Well, i dont think it was an assault. They were told by loud speaker that the park police were preparing to clear the street and could they move. Reclaiming my time. I think you said something to the effect of the st. Johns Episcopal Church would have been overrun. That was sunday okay. Are you aware that the presiding bishop of the miepiscopal churc along with the archbishop of washington all denounced this Police Assault on the civil rights and Civil Liberties of the people . Did they do that before or after the fire was put out . All that i know is that they denounced what you did and if you read what the archbishop, the episcopal archbishop of washington wrote, said that using police force to clear nonviolent protesters without notice in order to conduct this grotesque photo opportunity was antithetical to the principles of christianity. What i wanted to ask you about was covid19. We now lead the world in covid19 case count. And death count. President trump, of course, promised the disease would magically disappear. He advertised quack medical cures like injecting people with disinfectant. He told his people to slow down all the testing and refused for months to wear a mask. Last night he retweeted a number of messages claiming that dr. Fauci misled the American People by dismissing hydroxychloroquine as a cure for the disease. Now we have 150,000 dead americans, 4 million infected, 40 million jobless. We lose more than a thousand people every day. One american every 90 seconds. But you called his Public Health leadership superb. And you threw the weight of the Justice Department behind his campaign to shut down Public Health in march and april. You will see two tweets from the president of the United States. L liberate michigan, liberate virginia. He retweeted right wing protesters blocking access to hospitals and trying to overthrow Public Health orders in those states. And you snapped attention on april 27th. You designated a prosecutor to try to bring down those very Public Health orders in michigan and virginia. Two days later armed right wing protesters and White Supremacists disrupted the Michigan Legislature confronting police, taunting lawmakers, forcing the legislature to shut down as they brandish their long guns and shouted in the faces of Police Officers. But you didnt send in a secret police force on horseback to unleeu unleash tear gas, rubber bullets against these protesters storming the