It really is fun. Thank you, ali. Have a good evening, friend. Thank you. Well, if youve never seen the attorney general of the United States lie under oath to the House Judiciary Committee, then today was your lucky day. And i say lucky because being a witness to history is lucky. Those of us who lived through the watergate investigation that brought down the nixon presidency consider ourselves lucky to witness all of that in the early 1970s, because it showed us something very, very important about our government and politics. It showed us how bad it could be. How genuinely evil it could get. The nation watched as 48 Nixon Administration officials were found guilty of crimes in the watergate investigation, the same investigation that produced the three articles of impeachment that the House Judiciary Committee passed, that forced Richard Nixon to become the first president in history to resign the presidency. Richard nixons first attorney general, John Mitchell, was the 67th attorney general of the United States, and he became the very first one convicted of a crime and sentenced to prison. The second attorney general of the United States to be convicted of a crime was Richard Nixons second attorney general, who pleaded guilty to not testifying truthfully to a Senate Committee. And after we watched all of that unfold, we had a right to believe that no future attorney general would ever try to get away with not testifying truthfully to a congressional committee. No one who watched what happened to Richard Nixons republican attorneys general would ever want to go down that road again. So we thought. Then came attorney general william barr. William barr was 24 years old when Richard Nixon was forced to resign the presidency. And a month after that, william barr started law school. William barr was in law school with dreams of growing up to be the attorney general of the United States when he watched John Mitchell get convicted and sent to prison. He kind of watched because he was in law school in washington, d. C. , when that happened. And william barr watched Richard Nixons second attorney general plead guilty. He negotiated that plea on charges of perjury he negotiated the perjury charges down to the lesser charge of not testifying truthfully to a Senate Committee and getting a prison sentence that was then suspended as part of his plea deal. And that is what makes William Barrs testimony today so profoundly and deeply shocking. President trumps Mental Health has been called into question. His neurological function is declining, according to some professional Mental Health observers. President trumps niece, a trained clinical psychologist, has publicly diagnosed for us why President Trump can never stop lying. But today is the day, if you havent before, to begin to question the neurological function of william barr. Because william barr knows that the attorney general of the United States can be and has been convicted of crimes. Republican attorneys general. William barr knows that attorney general kleindinst pleaded guilty to not testifying truthfully. And still, william barr chose to do that today. Knowing that it is very likely there will be a new attorney general of the United States appointed by joe biden six months from now, who will be fully empowered to investigate William Barrs truthfulness under oath. William barr did not tell the truth under oath today. Did he commit perjury, which is a higher criminal standard . You can be the judge. And remember, as you watch this first piece of video, as every lawyer knows, you can lie under oath, but escape perjury charges if you correct that lie, and your same under oath testimony as soon as you possibly can in that testimony. Is it ever appropriate, sir, for the president to solicit or accept foreign assistance in an election . It depends on what kind of assistance. Is it ever appropriate for the president or a president ial candidate to accept or solicit foreign assistance of any kind in his or her election . No, its not appropriate. That was a pretty fast change of under oath testimony. This was a Trump Campaign event today. William barr showed up to testify today to help President Trumps Reelection Campaign. That was his mission. The job of the republican members of the committee was to deliver the Campaign Message that President Trump wants voters to hear. My constituents are scared. Americans are scared. I mean, they watch the tv, they see all this rioting, looting going on, statues being torn down. William barr has refused to testify to the House Judiciary Committee since the democrats took control of it. He has spent a year and a half refusing to testify to the committee that has jurisdiction over his department, the department of justice. William barr testified today to get out that Trump Campaign message, that america is burning. The same message that one Richard Nixon, the presidency by less than 1 of the vote in 1968. This is how the democrats countered the Trump Campaign message today. One of americas most beloved and effective protesters, john lewis, lies in state 1,000 feet from here, in a deserved place of honor. And your failure to respect the role of peaceful protests in this country is a disgrace and unamerican. And its important to remember what these protests are about. Black lives matter. Democrats have been waiting a year and a half to question the attorney general of the United States. They were reclaiming their time with the attorney general, in a sense, time that has been owed to them by the attorney general for a year and a half, and they repeatedly had to say they were reclaiming their time from the attorney general himself, when he tried to perry their questions with nonanswers. The democrats on the committee divided the labor to cover what they see as the most Dishonorable Service by an attorney general since Richard Nixons attorneys general were convicted of crimes. Mr. Barr, have you ever intervened other than to help the president s friend get a reduced prison sentence for any other case where a prosecutor filed a recommendation with a court . A sentencing recommendation . Yeah, other than that case . With the president s friend. Not that i recall. Not that i recall is one of the favorite answers of witnesses who want to avoid perjury charges. And Donald Trumps life prior to the presidency, as a frequent litigant, i dont recall was his favorite answer as the victims of Trump University he defrauded discovered in their deposition of President Trump. One of the dishonesties in William Barrs testimony today was to claim he only investigates cases with real evidence that can be evaluated while pretending that he doesnt know anything about real criminal evidence that President Trump has made public. Heres more of that from congressman Eric Swalwell who will join our discussion in a moment. In President Trumps america, theres two systems of justice. One for mr. Trump and his cronies and one for the rest of us. But that can only happen if you enable it. At your confirmation hearing, you were asked, do you believe a president can lawfully issue a pardon in exchange for the persons promise not to incriminate him. Not to what . When you said that, that a president swapping a pardon to silence a witness would be a crime, you were promising the American People that if you saw that, you would do something about it, is that right . Thats right. Now, mr. Barr, are you investigating President Trump for commuting the prison sentence of his longtime friend and political adviser, roger stone . No. Are you familiar with a december 3rd, 2018, tweet where President Trump said roger stone had shown guts by not testifying against him . No, im not familiar with that. You dont read the president s tweets . No. Well, theres a lot of evidence in the president s tweets, mr. Attorney general. I think you should start reading them. He said, mr. Stone showed guts. But on july 10th, roger stone declared to a reporter, i had 29 or 30 conversations with trump during the campaign period. Trump knows i was under pressure to turn on him. It would have eased my situation considerably, but i didnt. The prosecutors wanted me to play judas. I refused. Are you familiar with that stone statement . Actually, im not. You told abc news that the president s tweets sometimes make your job impossible. But sir, your job is only impossible if you enable the president s corrupt schemes. Congressman joe neguse began his questioning with a challenge that made the attorney general even more uncomfortable about perjury. Good afternoon, mr. Attorney general. I want to go through a couple of your prior statements. On april 19th excuse me, april 18th of 2019, you stated that the white house fully cooperated with the special counsels investigation. Youre aware of that . Uhhuh. Today, yes or no, mr. Barr, do you testify that that statement was true at the time you made it . I thought it to be true at the time i made it. Why isnt it true . Ill get to that. Does it have mr. Barr, i will get to that. Reclaiming my time. You answered the question. I have another question for you. On june 19th actually, i need to answer. Mr. Attorney general, you did answer. You said under penalty of perjury, im going to answer the damn question. You said yes. Are you saying no . I think what i was referring to was the supplying of documents. Mr. Attorney general, the statement was not limited to the supply of documents. Congressman neguse is absolutely right. The white house fully cooperated with the special counsels investigation, providing unfettered access to campaign and white house documents, directing senior aides to testify freely and asserting no privilege claims. And at the same time, the president took no act that in fact deprived the special counsel of the documents and witnesses necessary to complete his investigation. And that was a lie. The witness necessary to complete the mueller investigation, who President Trump refused to allow to testify, was President Trump, the single most important witness in the investigation of donald trump. Leading off our discussion tonight are democratic congressman Eric Swalwell of california, a member of the House Judiciary Committee and house intelligence committee. Also with us, Congressman Joe Neguse of colorado. Hes a member of the House Judiciary Committee, also. Congressman neguse, let me start with you. You had William Barrs statement right there. He obviously tried to turn his statement into something else. Right before your eyes. We just showed the video proving that you were right about it. What is your assessment of the truthfulness of that testimony . For someone who is testifying under oath, what would you call that, not telling the truth in a moment like that . Well, its good to see you, lawrence. You know, look, the hearing was a very combative and contentious hearing. I think the attorney generals answers were deeply problematic. To be candid with you, i found it confounding that he would answer several of my questions in the affirmative with respect to both the issue you mentioned, in terms of the prior statement that he had made at that press Conference Regarding the white houses cooperation or in fact, the lack thereof with the special counsels investigation. And also in another clip with respect to the firing of the former u. S. Attorney for the Southern District of new york. So i was surprised that he would attempt to, again, try to rationalize these clear misrepresentations. Ultimately, the American Public are going to have to be the final arbiter as to the veracity of the attorney generals statements. But i found them to be, as i said, deeply problematic. Congressman swalwell, what would you say was the farthest from the truth that william barr wandered today . Mailin balloting. Cosigning on the president s claims that its going to be fraudulent. Hes the attorney general of the United States. If theres any evidence at all in any election, he could investigate it. And he has not done so. There have not been any investigations into widespread fraud. Hes really seeding this argument and trying to deter people from participating that way. But i think we have inoculated against that argument by shining a lot of light on it. And we showed the attorney general, whether it was Hakim Jefferies pointing out that the attorney general thought that the president handled covid superbly, or the attorney general not being able to stand up against the president when he wanted to commute the sentence of roger stone and investigate the president because he promised the American People as the attorney general that he would if the president ever did that. That he is blindly following the president. Hes just Michael Cohen is the fixer with a lot more power than Michael Cohen would have dreamed to have had. Congressman neguse, you basically pitted former u. S. Attorney of the Southern District berman against the attorney general today. Only one can be telling the truth, but both testified under oath. Lets listen to that exchange you had with the attorney general about that. The department of justice issued a statement saying that mr. Berman, a former u. S. Attorney for the Southern District of new york, had stepped down. Youre aware of that statement being released by the department, correct . Yes. Do you testify today that that statement was true at the time the department issued it . He may not have known it, but he was stepping down. He may not have known he was stepping down, thats your testimony today . He was being removed. Mr. Attorney general, the statement did not say that he was being removed, it did not say that he was being fired. It said that he was stepping down. Apparently your testimony today is that that was accurate when mr. Burman has testified that it in fact was not. Congressman neguse, in what might be perjury, william barr found himself laughing about the difference between his under oath testimony and jeffrey bermans. Yeah, lawrence. Im not sure why he was laughing at it. Certainly it was no laughing matter. The answer was a nonsensical one. Heres why it matters for the American Public. As you know, lawrence, the u. S. Attorney for the Southern District of new york handles some of the most high profile and sensitive criminal matters, and obviously we know that the Southern District of new york is pursuing for example criminal actions against lev parnas. So the fact that he refused to concede that the state of the department of justice issued on that day regarding mr. Bermans departure was not accurate, again, is just confounding. And its clear that he did not want to concede that point, because of course, it begs the larger question of why this attorney general was so eager to remove mr. Berman. As you said, mr. Berman testified in front of our committee and made it very clear the circumstances regarding his departure. Lets listen to how this congressperson described the difference how william barr sees protesters depending on what theyre protesting. Lets look at how you respond when the protesters are supporters of the president. On two separate occasions, after President Trump tweeted, liberate michigan to subvert stay home orders to protect the Public Health of people in michigan, protesters swarmed the michigan capitol carrying guns, some with swastikas, confederate flags, and one with a dark doll with a noose around its neck. Are you aware they called for the governor to be lynched, shot, and beheaded . No. You are not aware of that . I was not aware of that. Congressman swalwell, your reaction to that . I thought it was one of the best points that was made, that their selective use of militarized police, that then is used for footage that goes into the president s campaign ads. The concern here is that if bill barr is going to the court and joining the armed militiamen in camo gear and carrying ar15s to protest having to stay at home because of the governors order, hes on their side, how is he going to inflame the situation when we get to election day and the pres