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House Democrats Blast Attorney General William Barr for Failing to Show Up to Testify
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May 2, 2019
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33:07Now PlayingThe House Judiciary Committee’s Democrats on Thursday lambasted Attorney General William Barr after he skipped their hearing on special counsel Robert Mueller’s report.
New York Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler, the committee’s chairman, gave an opening statement as Barr’s seat at a table for witnesses stood empty.
“He has failed the men and women of the Department of Justice by placing the needs of the president over the fair administration of justice. He has even failed to show up today,” Nadler said.
The chairman said the standoff with President Donald Trump’s administration was significant.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the challenge we face is that the president wants desperately to prevent Congress, a co-equal branch of government, from providing any check whatsoever to even his most reckless decisions. He’s trying to render Congress inert,” Nadler said.
“If we don’t stand up to him together today, we risk forever losing the power to stand up to any president in the future,” he also said.
Meanwhile, Tennessee Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen expressed his disapproval in a more light-hearted way — by bringing props that illustrated his view that Barr was too chicken to show up.
Cohen appeared at the hearing with a chicken figurine that he placed at Barr’s seat, and he also brought a bucket of KFC that he proceeded to eat and share with attendees.
Barr had objected to the format of the hearing after Democrats decided to let staff attorneys conduct a round of questioning after lawmakers were done.
Georgia Republican Rep. Doug Collins, the committee’s ranking member, blamed Democrats for Barr’s no-show, saying their demands over the hearing’s format amounted to a “circus political stunt.”
“The reason Bill Barr is not here today is because the Democrats decided they didn’t want him here today,” Collins said. The GOP congressman suggested Barr wasn’t scared to appear, noting the attorney general sat through six hours of grilling on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, the attorney general appeared before a Republican-run Senate committee, pushing back at Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s criticism of his four-page memo.
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