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Barr Defends Trump's Violent Clearing of Lafayette Square for Bible Photo-Op
Posted
July 28, 2020
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Attorney General William Barr sought to defend the Trump administration's aggressive federal law enforcement response to civil unrest in America before a House committee Tuesday.
Testifying before the House Judiciary Committee, Barr was questioned about the U.S. Park Police's violent clearing of protesters from Lafayette Square last month without apparent provocation or adequate warning.
President Donald Trump walked through the park that evening before holding up a Bible outside St. John's church.
Barr attempted to insist the two events were unrelated, but Democrat Rep. Steve Cohen was unconvinced.
"It was necessary that the park be cleared. And it was done. And you said 'get it done," he said.
Cohen then proceeded to attack Barr for the administration's handling of the demonstrations in Portland and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's prison death.
"Maybe what happened was your secret police were poorly trained, just like your Bureau of Prisons guards were poorly trained and allowed the most notorious inmate in our nation's last several years, Jeffrey Epstein, to conveniently commit suicide," Cohen said.
The hearing marks Barr’s first appearance before the House Judiciary Committee, bringing him face-to-face with a panel that voted last year to hold him in contempt and is holding hearings on what Democrats allege is politicization of the Justice Department under his watch.
It comes during a tumultuous stretch in which Barr has taken actions cheered by President Donald Trump but condemned by Democrats and other critics.
Georgia Rep. Hank Johnson accused Barr of pushing for a more lenient sentence for longtime Trump ally Roger Stone, prompting the entire trial team's departure.
Barr insisted it had nothing to do with Trump, asking Johnson: "Do you think it's fair, do you think it is fair for a 67 year old man to be sent to prison for seven to nine years?"
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