Tuesday, July 28th, was the most reprehensible day in history for the United States House of Representatives. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) gaveled-in his committee to hear the testimony of Attorney General William Barr regarding a host of topics about the attorney general’s recent actions. They pertain to legal cases from the past several years, the Department of Justice responses to the recent protest-turned-riots in Portland and elsewhere, and for the AG to answer questions about many other things that have stuck in the craws of every Democrat on that committee.
Just to put this hearing in context for you, House Democrats have filed articles of impeachment against Attorney General Barr. So you can only imagine the atmosphere in that hearing room.
Chairman Nadler was an hour late because of a car wreck in which he was involved on the way. He wasted no time to share his angst for the negative start to his day by taking it out on any Republican within earshot — including the Attorney General. Here’s a brief synopsis of how this hearing evolved into the nastiest House Judiciary Committee hearing in my memory:
- Democrats sought to paint Barr, making his first appearance before the House Judiciary Committee, as a Trump loyalist who has tried to shield the president and his allies from scrutiny, all while seeking to help Trump project the image of a law-and-order president ahead of the 2020 presidential election.
- “The job of the attorney general is to defend the best interests of the people and serve as the people’s lawyer, but during your time as attorney general you have consistently undermined democracy, undermined the Constitution and undermined the health, safety, and well-being of the American people,” said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.). “All to personally benefit Donald Trump.”
- “You are supposed to represent the people of the United States of America, not violate people’s First Amendment rights, you are supposed to uphold democracy and secure equal justice under the law, not violently dismantle certain protesters based on the president’s agenda,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said in one of the more fiery moments of the hearing.
- The hearing frequently devolved into shouting matches between Democratic lawmakers and Barr as well as between committee members. Democrats also said they were worried about what Barr might do before the presidential election.
- A focus for Democrats throughout the hearing was the administration’s decision to send federal police to Portland.
The back-and-forth exchanges also showed how much pent up frustration there was among Democrats ahead of the hearing. Tuesday’s appearance was Barr’s first before the panel, and Democrats have long said they have wanted to hear from Barr, stemming back to his handling of the release of former special counsel Robert Mueller’s report.
During one tense exchange, Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.) repeatedly admonished Barr for interrupting her questioning. “We’ve waited a long time for you to come here. The time is mine,” Dean said. “You waited to talk to me like this? You didn’t need to wait so long,” Barr responded.
That is just a small sample of the insults hurled incessantly at the attorney general by Democrats throughout the nearly five-hour “get-together.” I call it that because it was far from a hearing. To explain what I mean in saying that is just to give you one sentence uttered in a brief pause by Attorney General Barr: “I thought this was to be a hearing. If it’s a hearing, shouldn’t the witness who’s appearing be allowed to respond?”
For approximately five hours, Mr. Barr was accused, berated, insulted, demeaned, interrupted, and called a liar. The only time he was allowed to complete any thoughts put into spoken words was during his opening statement!
“There Have Been ONLY Peaceful Protestors in Portland”
Almost to a person Democrats in that hearing demanded that there were NO Antifa or other anarchists present in Portland, NO violence at all perpetrated by any during the protests other than that alleged by Democrats during the hearing perpetrated by federal officers against those “peaceful” protestors. Chairman Nadler himself on Monday was caught on camera, responding to a reporter who asked the congressman about the Antifa-inspired riots in Oregon. Nadler responded to the question saying, “There have been no riots in Portland. That’s a myth circulating only in Washington.”
In his opening remarks, Barr stated some of the Portland demonstrators have been overly violent, and protests have damaged federal property. “What unfolds nightly around the courthouse cannot reasonably be called a protest; it is, by any objective measure, an assault on the government of the United States,” he said.
“Rioters have barricaded the front door of the courthouse, pried plywood off the windows with crowbars, and thrown commercial-grade fireworks into the building in an apparent attempt to burn it down with federal personnel inside. The rioters have started fires outside the building, and then systematically attacked federal law enforcement officers who attempt to put them out — for example, by pelting the officers with rocks, frozen water bottles, cans of food, and balloons filled with fecal matter.
“Remarkably, the response from many in the media and local elected offices to this organized assault has been to blame the federal government. To state what should be obvious … such acts are, in fact federal crimes under statutes enacted by this Congress.”
Barr said an attorney general has a “unique obligation” to ensure that the standard of justice is applied to everyone equally and that he’s sought to uphold this obligation without interference from Trump.
“The president has not attempted to interfere in these decisions,” he said. “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. That is precisely what I have done.”
Other “Matters”
Barr also did not commit to withholding the results of U.S. Attorney John Durham’s investigation into the origin of the FBI’s Russia investigation until after the 2020 presidential election. He stated that any report released ahead of the election “will be in my judgment, not the one that is covered” by a Justice Department policy against investigations that may disrupt an election.
“We’re not going to interfere,” he said. “In fact, I’ve made it very clear that I’m not going to tolerate it.”
Further discussing November’s elections, Barr said there was no reason to believe the election would be “rigged” but did back Trump’s skepticism of mail-in voting, saying “there’s a high risk” for voter fraud if the practice is widely adopted.
Barr dismissed the allegations lobbed at him throughout the roughly five-hour hearing, arguing that he has worked to “restore the rule of law” after the DOJ “strayed” from its mission before his tenure.
Republicans also leaned into a fierce defense of Barr, joining him in blasting Democrats for failing to denounce rioters who have violently clashed with federal agents in recent weeks.
“What makes me concerned for the country is, for the first time in my memory, that the leaders of one of our great two political parties, the Democratic Party, are not coming out and condemning mob violence and the attacks on federal courts,” Barr said.
“Why can’t we just come out and say violence against federal courts has to stop? Could we hear something like that?” the attorney general added.
Jim Jordan (R-OH) set the tone for Republicans at the beginning of the hearing by showing a selectively edited 10-minute video highlighting moments of violence at protests around the country. It was preceded by images of Democrats, including former President Obama and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, describing protests as peaceful.
The GOP members repeatedly argued that an aggressive law enforcement response was necessary to quell violent protests.
“We’re seeming just to contort ourselves to get to some way to show that you have nefarious motives,” said Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.).
Summary
I have never heard such nastiness from any group of adults: insults, badgering, interruptions, allegations, defamation. Democrats showed in this hearing just how vile members of Congress can be when they want to destroy a former attorney general who is attorney general for the second time. William Barr, throughout his entire career, has been revered by Republicans and Democrats alike as one of the greatest strict adherents to the Constitution and the Rule of Law that has ever born the attorney general title.
What could make this group so venomous to Barr today?
You know the answer to that: he serves for President Donald Trump. That’s his only sin.
“That shouldn’t cause them to attack so viciously this or any attorney general!” Your saying that would be a truthful conclusion IF this Democrat Party wasn’t focused entirely on one objective: Destroy Donald Trump and destroy all that work with and for him. No price is too high to pay to run them all out of Washington, D.C.!
The fact that their objective as it has played out is so obviously one fueled by more than just anger should make every American ask, “What’s going on in all this? What is their purpose?”
The answer is simple: Attorney General William Barr, the Department of Justice, Federal Attorney John Durham, and revealed in the hearing today by A.G. Barr an added federal attorney, Stephen Cox of Texas, are together about to wrap up several massive criminal cases of illegal activities on the part of members of the Obama Administration.
Democrats are scared to death. They desperately want all of this to remain unresolved until after the swearing of Joe Biden as President to replace President Trump. If they can keep the findings of these investigations quiet and Biden wins and be sworn in as President, the massive wrongdoing much of which has already been revealed can simply be swept under the Obama “corruption rug,” which will be handed down to Biden.
In closing, let me say the hearing today was so vile and unprecedented, I wanted to save just a few audio tidbits. If you join us at 9:00 Central this morning at TNN Live, in our first segment, I will play snippets of testimony from just a few of the participants to show you how nasty these House Democrats are today. How do you listen? Just click on the blue horizontal banner at the top of this story at 9:00 AM Central, and it will take you right to the broadcast. The segment only lasts a few minutes so you can hear those and then move on to your day unless you want to stay with us.
If we don’t see you at 9:00, we’ll look forward to getting back together tomorrow at Truth News Network.
