mr. barr: rep. dean: the timing is clear. one safety official said that it was as if the plan from the park police to move the perimeter had been "hurried up" when the president needed to walk to church and just today we heard testimony from a national guard officer deployed at lafayette square confirming that he suspected the square to be clear after the curfew. mr. barr: who was that? rep. dean: adam dimarco, national guard. mr. barr: well -- rep. dean: i didn't have a question for you, sir. we were told that you learned of the president's interest in crossing the square to go to the church. is it your opinion the clearing protesters from the square, which local officials were told to hurry up moments before the president's photo op with a borrowed bible in front of the church was coincident? is this timing coincidence? mr. barr: i believe it is. post hoc ergo proctor hock. rep. dean: never mind the latin. when asked about the use of pepper bombs -- mr. barr: it wasn't a coincidence in the s

mr. barr:. -- mr. said it was referring to the production of documents. >> on june 18 of this year, the department of justice issued a statement saying that mr. berman , a former u.s. attorney new york had "stepped down." you are aware of that? mr. barr: yes. >> do testified today that that statement was true at the time the department to shoot it? it?epartment issued mr. barr: he may not have known. >> he may not have known? mr. barr: he was being removed. >> the statement did not say he was being removed. it did not say he was being fired. it said he was stepping down. according to your testimony today is that that was accurate even though mr. berman has testified it was not. mr. barr: he was removed. i wanted an opportunity to offer -- >> the rationalization for your answer -- mr. barr: it is not a rationalization. >> earlier this year, president trump stated he had planned to make what he described [no audio] stand by] mr. barr: maybe if they had vetted the dossier. youhere is no u.s. attorney have

mr. barr:. -- mr. said it was referring to the production of documents. >> on june 18 of this year, the department of justice issued a statement saying that mr. berman , a former u.s. attorney new york had "stepped down." you are aware of that? mr. barr: yes. >> do testified today that that statement was true at the time the department to shoot it? it?epartment issued mr. barr: he may not have known. >> he may not have known? mr. barr: he was being removed. >> the statement did not say he was being removed. it did not say he was being fired. it said he was stepping down. according to your testimony today is that that was accurate even though mr. berman has testified it was not. mr. barr: he was removed. i wanted an opportunity to offer -- >> the rationalization for your answer -- mr. barr: it is not a rationalization. >> earlier this year, president trump stated he had planned to make what he described [no audio] stand by] mr. barr: maybe if they had vetted the dossier. youhere is no u.s. attorney have

mr. barr: thank you, mr. chairman. rep. dean: in lafayette square, peaceful protesters gathered over days and hours to discuss civil rights and the heinous murder of george floyd call for equality and justice. when asked about the use of force displayed in the video against the protesters in lafayette square you stated that your attitude was get it done. let's look at what you got done. if you take a look at the timeline we compiled, we can see that you were spotted in lafayette square that monday evening. the president was scheduled to speak in the rose garden at 6:15. the park police began to disperse protesters at roughly 6:33. president trump started his speech at 6:43 and finished at 6:50. by 7:01, when the president was ready to take a photo in front of st. john's church, the square was cleared and ready for him to go. am i correct? a.g. barr: yes. rep. dean: the timing is clear. multiple local officials also confirmed the point of clearing the square. one safety official said that it plan to movepolice the perimeter

you, you, mr. barr, and president, working together, are letting my constituents down and it is something that you are going to have to live with. what am i supposed to say to my

>> i'll get to that, mr. barr. >> does it have top -- >> reclaiming my time, you answered the question. i have another question. >> i need to answer that question. >> mr. attorney general, answered the question. >> you said under penalty of perjury, i'm going to answer the damn question. >> are you saying no? >> i think what i was referring to, and i would have to see the context of it was the supplying of documents. >> mr. attorney general, the statement was not limited to the supply of documents. you stated -- mr. attorney general, reclaiming my time -- >> i think that's what i was talking about. >> april 19 of 2019 that the white house fully cooperated with the special counsel's investigation, you knew when you made that statement that the president had not agreed to be interviewed by the special counsel. >> i think i subsidiary quently said i was -- i think i subsequently said they've was referring to the production of documents -- >> a statement saying that mr. berman, former u.s. attorney for the southern di

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 don't think peaceful protesters should face that. >> that's correct. and isn't protecting the first amendment freedom of americans as at least as important as protecting a building from vandalism? we fought -- i've not posed a question. we fought for a democracy for the right to speak freely and you are attempting to take that away. what's worse, you're 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, it's worth remembering every suffragette, everybody abolitionist, protesters aren't cha chaos. they're examples of american values.

mr. barr, my question is very specific. do you think it is ever appropriate to use tear gas on peaceful protesters, yes or no? >> it is appropriate to use tear gas when it's indicated to disperse an unlawful assembly and sometimes unfortunately peaceful protesters are affected by that. >> i'm going to show you there is video evidence as well. i will ask you to look at this vid video. >> this is the video that's capturing the nation's attention this weekend. shot by a tribune reporter. >> that video is of christopher david, a navy veteran being beaten and tear gassed by the officers. do appropriate? >> i didn't see him tear gassed. there seems to be gas in the area. i don't know whether it was directed at him. >> do you think what happened to mr. david was appropriate. >> the inspector general is reviewing that particular incident. >> do you think he deserved to get pepper sprayed and beaten to the point of broken bones. >> i said the inspector general is going to review the incident. >> do you

mr. barr, for officers to use force against peaceful protesters? yes or no? >> not against peaceful protesters. >> you also don't mention in your statement today, or your testimony, the federal officers have even teargas elected represented is. a county commissioner confirmed last don ike first hand, "last night i was teargas. i saw them throw canisters of poison without warning into a nonviolent crowd, including elders and the vulnerable." on july 23rd, the mayor, ted wheeler, was teargas. he called the tactics of the officers of the orient. these were elected representative's with grave concerns that officers are using abhorrent tactics including tear gassinnonviolent elderly americ. you think it's ever appropriate to use teargas on peaceful protesters? >> the problem is these things sometimes occur because it's hard to separate people -- >> my question is very specific. do you think it is ever appropriate to use teargas on peaceful protesters? yes or no? >> it is appropriate to use teargas

anyway, i strongly disapprove with mr. barr. he's acting as trump's personal attorney and, you know, that, of course, is wrong. >> and, dave, democrats will want to know why barr in february ordered prosecutors to reduce their sentencing recommendation for a longtime trump associate roger stone. stone was convicted of lying to congress in connection with serving as a conduit between the president and wikileaks during the 2016 election. four career prosecutors working on the stone case with drew. stone was given a 40-month prison term but trump commuted the sentence this month. here's jerry nadler, the chair of the judiciary committee, questioning federal prosecutor at a june hearing about pressure from, quote, the highest levels at the justice department to scale back its sentencing recommendation for roger stone. >> leadership at the department wanted a lower sentence. when you ask the department why they wanted a below guideline sentence for mr. stone, they were told it was political and because the u.s. attorney was afraid of

>> i'll get to that mr. barr -- >> does it -- >> mr. barr. i'll get to that. you answered the question -- >> actually, i need to answer that question. >> mr. attorney general, you did answer the question. >> you said under personality of perjury. i'm going to answer the question. >> yes is what you said. are you saying no. >> i think what i was referring to and i'll have to see the context of it was the supplying of documents. >> no, mr. attorney general the statement was not limited to the supply of documents -- >> i said -- >> reclaiming my time. reclaiming my time -- >> i think that's what i was talking about. >> april 19th of 2019 the white house fully cooperated with the special counsel's investigation. you knew when you made that statement that the president had not agreed to be interviewed by the special counsel. >> i was referring to the production of documents. >> mr. attorney general on june 18th of this year they issued a statement saying mr. berman for the southern district of -- saying that is true at the time the department issued it. >> he may no

mr. barr: mr. chairman, you have conflated two different things. the effort of legend is to confront violent crime. crimes in the city, again, like predatory violence. like murder, shootings, which are soaring in some cities right now. that does not involve encountering protesters as you refer to it. civil disturbance is a different set of issues. and i just reject the idea that the department is flooded anywhere and attempted to suppress demonstrators. we make a clear distinction between demonstrators. rep. nadler: the facts speak. mr. barr: i'm answering. the fact of the matter is, you courthouse ishe under attack. federal resources are inside the perimeter around the courthouse defending it from two months of daily attacks where people marched to the court, try to gain entrance, and have set fires, thrown things, used explosives, and injured police, including this past weekend, perhaps permanently blinding three federal officers with lasers. we are on the defense. we are not out looking for trouble. if the state and the city would provide law en

>> that's right. >> now mr. barr, are you investigating donald trump for commuting the prison sentence of his longtime friend and political adviser roger stone? >> no. >> why not? >> why should i? >> well, let's talk about that. mr. stone was convicted by a jury on seven counts of lying in the russia investigation. he bragged that he lied to save trump's butt. but why would he lie? your prosecutors told a jury that stone lied because the truth looked bad for donald trump. and what truth is that? well, donald trump denied in written answers to the russia investigators that he talked to roger stone during the time roger stone was in contact with agents of a russian influence operation. there's evidence that trump and stone indeed did talk during that time. you would agree that it's a federal crime to lie under oath. is that right? >> yes. >> it's a crime for you. it's a crime for me and it's certainly a crime for the president of the united states. is that right? >> yes. >> so if donald trump lied to the mueller invest

is that right. >> that's right. >> now, mr. barr, are you investigating donald trump for commuting the sentence of roger stone? >> no. >> why not? >> why should i? >> well, let's tack abolk about. mr. stone was convicted and bragged he lied to save trump's but. you said it looked bad for donald trump and what truth is that? donald trump denied in written answers to the russia investigators to talk to roger stone in the time he was in contact with agents of a russian influence operation, evidence that trump and stone indeed did talk during that time. you would agree that it's a federal crime to lie under oath. is that right? >> yes. >> a crime for you and me and certainly a crime for the president of the united states. is that right? >> yes. >> so if donald trump lied to the mueller investigators which you agree would be a crime then stone was in a position to expose donald trump's lies. are you familiar with the december 3rd, 2018, tweet donald trump said roger stone showed guts not testifying against him? >> no. >> you don't read t

i think mr barr has not been able to expose paid him self and being an echo chamber of president trump. i served over a decade in the department i know what's irregular we had basically a chinese wall when it came to law enforcement between the department and the white house mr barr suggests that it's every day occurrence for the white house to call over suggest encourage lightning sentences exonerating someone who's click guilty and this is from a white house that's absolutely clueless about the facts it couldn't possibly be based upon knowledge that mr trump would say that mr flynn is the victim of a witch hunt in fact just guilty pleas occurred on mr trump's watch so we know those are political decisions we also know that there been other instances where attorneys at the department of complain there were intercessions by bar to oppose things as trivial as concentration in the marijuana industry because mr barr thought that offended his cultural sensitivities and mr barr with regard to the use of force in portland in lafayette square and otherwise and has been unable to demonstrate w

mr. barr, is that our foreign adversaries cannot actually influence our elections by submitting massive counterfeit ballots but the fbi and our intelligence services have repeatedly warned that those adversaries are actively trying to sow mistrust of our election systems and by repeating this information about mail-in voting you and the president are helping them. just switching gears. you would agree. >> well i would like an opportunity to respond to that. >> -- identifying fairly strongly with a political party. >> who makes contributions? >> you said in 2017 that prosecutors who make political contributions are identifying fairly strongly with the political party, correct. >> yes. >> and in fact, you and your wife have donated over $730,000 to republican and conservative candidates including donations of $58,000 to republican senators and senate candidates in the four months preceding your confirmation. >> are you surprised i'm a republican? >> is that correct, that you made those donations

mr. barr, the job of the attorney general is to defend the best interest of the people and serve as a people's lawyer. during your time is attorney general, you have consistently undermined democracy, undermined the constitution, and undermines the health, safety, and well-being of the american people, all to personally benefit donald trump. now, you just testified that there is no mechanism for a president to contest an election that has clearly been won by the opponent. mr. attorney general, what will you do if donald trump loses the election on november 3rd but refuses to leave office on january 20th? >> if the results are clear, i would leave office. >> do you believe that there is any basis or legitimacy to donald trump's recent claim that he can't provide an answer as to whether he would leave office? >> i really am not familiar with these comments where the context in which they occurred, so i'm not going to give commentary on them. >> okay, thank you. you stated that publicly about we

mr. barr, simple yes or no. does the constitution say that only citizens should be counted in the census? >> no. >> correct. it does not. in fact, the framers of the 14th amendment explicitly confronted this question and it provides that persons in each state be counted. i'll move on. >> well, they wouldn't have confronted it because there were no illegal aliens at the time. >> i'm alarmed by your department's refusal to comply with and implement key supreme court rulings. on june 18th of this year, the supreme court in an opinion authored by chief justice roberts ruled that the trump administration's attempt to rescind daca was arbitrary and capricious. and required the administration to process new daca applications. despite the supreme court's ruling, zero daca applications have been processed. that's not the only supreme court decision your administration has ignored. in 2017, your department issued a memo stating that transgender workers were not protected by civil rights laws. the supreme court struck that

let me ask you directly, mr. barr. yes or no. did you rebrand existing projects under -- in order to assist the president in an election year? >> i wouldn't call it -- >> mr. attorney general, would you agree with me at least on principle, that it's improper for the department of justice to divert resources and law enforcement personnel in an effort to assist in the president's re-election campaign. >> in the fall we did inaugurate an anti crime initiative because we were concerned about increasing violent crime in a number of cities. we called that relentless pursuit. unfortunately covid intervened and our agents who were detained for these assignments could not perform the operation. so the operation was squelched by covid. we couldn't complete or make much progress on relentless pursuit. however, in the intervening time, we saw violent crime continuing to rise, and a lot of that was triggered by the events after the death of george floyd. so we did reboot the program after covid started breaking and we could commit the law enfo

did i get it right, mr. barr? >> i have responsibility for the federal government, and the white house is the seat of the executive branch. >> mr. barr, let me just make it clear you are supposed -- >> michigan authorities can handle -- >> -- 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 personal agenda. >> the gentle lady's time has expired. >> it went about like that. congresswoman jayapal, democrat of washington state, to take us off the air tonight. that is our broadcast for this tuesday evening. thank you so much for being here with us. on behalf of all my colleagues at the networks of nbc news, good night. >>> as the u.s. hits 150,000 deaths from 1 coronavirus, and more states break records for new infections, the president continues to make false claims about the virus while asking why dr. fauci has better rat

thank you for being here, mr. barr. according to the congressional research service, this is the first time you have appeared before the house judiciary committee, both during your first tenure as attorney general 30 years ago and during your current service in the trump administration. welcome. 150 years ago last month in the aftermath of the civil war congress created the department of justice. we did so with two missions in mind. first, we wanted to replace a system of party spoils with a core of professional government attorneys. yes, these attorneys would be supervised by the attorney general, and, yes, the attorney general would remain a political appointee, but at its heart the department would rely on a foundation of professionals dedicated to the impartial administration of the law and an unbiased system of justice. second, congress established the department of justice to enforce the nation's first civil rights laws after the civil war. from that moment on, it became the department's responsibility to ensure t

. >> now, mr. barr, are you investigating donald trump for commuting the prison sentence of his longtime friend and political adviser roger stone? >> no. >> why not? >> why should i? >> chuck, in plain english, what do you make of that exchange and that answer? >> well, a couple of things. first, i thought congressman swalwell did a nice job of questioning. you don't always see good questioning at congressional hearings. i believe as a former prosecutor, i'm biased to former prosecutors, but i thought he actually really did a very good job of painting the issue. second, i was disappointed because again i think there's a more complex answer than barr was offering. he doesn't have to open an investigation of the president. but what he was saying ran counter to what he had promised during his confirmation hearing. you know, the pardon, again, would be constitutional. can the president pardon stone for an improper reason? yes, constitutionally he can. but it could also be a crime, which means that the pardo

. >> mr. barr, the president has suggested that only votes counted on election day should be what matters, meaning that if a voter casts a legal ballot on or before election day, but that ballot is not counted on election day, it shouldn't count at all. so i want to ask you again about your commitment to ensuring that every vote is counted. if in this upcoming november election the president asks you to intervene and try to stop states from counting legal ballots after election day, will you do the right thing and refuse? yes or no? >> i will follow the law. >> you won't say no, sir? >> i'll follow the law. >> it's very disappointing -- >> if a state has a law that says it has to be cast on election day, that's the law. that will be enforced. >> will you commit to making sure the department of justice does not get involved in a contested election? yes or no? >> i will follow the law. >> not exactly reassuring. those were just two of the many head-turning moments today. another came when the attorne

ros: mr. barralso accused of assigning federal agents to black lives matter protesting portland. >> the department has endangered americans under your loadership bying federal law enforcement into american cities against the wishes of state and local leaders, to forcefully and unconstitutionally suppress dissent. ros: this is what mr. nadler was referring to, these pictures in portland, oregon, where protesteagainst police brutality clashed with federal agents the trump administration dan. here is william barr on that. >> violent rioters and anarchists have hijacked legitimate protests to wreak senseless havoc and destruction on innocent victims. the situation in portland is a telling example. ros: nt we have the accusation that william barr abused his power to help associates of president trump, including michael flynn and roger stone, who have fed criminal proceedings. here's mr. barr on that accusation. >> the president has notd attemp interfere on these decisions. on the contrary, he told me fr

here's part of that combative exchange. >> mr. barron june 1, there were protests against the murder of george floyd and police brutality in lafayette park. let us not be distracted by you or my gop colleagues as to what these powerful and massive protests were actually about. they were about the persistent killing of black bodies by law enforcement and finally, finally, an awakening in america of the conscience of our country. do you think that -- >> well -- >> do you think it's appropriate at lafayette park to pepper spray, tear gas and beat protesters and injure american citizens? >> well, i don't accept your characterization of what happened, but as i explained the effort there was -- >> mr. barr, i just asked for a yes or no, so let me just tell you -- i'm starting to lose my temper. according to sworn testimony before the house natural resources committee by army national guard officer adam demarco who was there, this was quote an unprovoked escalation and excessive use of force against peaceful protesters. you -- >> i don't reme

did i get it right, mr. barr? i have responsibility for the federal government. >> senator, i think one of the things people are afraid of is that william barr will look the other way if there are violent protests that are attempting to intimidate people that want to vote against donald trump or, and/or that he might use his federal secret police force he's created to intimidate voters who want to vote for joe biden. are you worried about that? >> listen, at this point, what i am worried about is that we remind everyone of what is at stake in this election, this election which will be, i do truly believe the most important election of our lifetime. joe biden has, for example, outlined a number of plans that are part of his policy to build back better, build america back up to where it can be. and, for example, today he has talked about what he's prepared to do to wipe out as much as $10,000 of federal student loan debt. what he is prepared to do for students who attend public colleges and universities or hbcus, in

mr. barr. yes or no, yes or no, did you rebrand existing under legend in order to assist the president in an election year? >> i wouldn't call it so mr. attorney general would you agree with me at least on principle that it is improper for the department of justice to divert resources and lawnd enforcement personnel in an effort to assist the president's reelection campaign? >> no, mr. chairman in the fall we did inaugurate an anti-crime initiative because we were concerned about increasing violent crime in a number of i cities. and we call that relentless pursuit. unfortunately culvert ovintervened and our agents who were detailed for these assignments could not perform the operation traits of the operation was squelched by covid. so we could not complete or make much progress on relentless pursuit. however in the intervening time, we saw violent crime continuing to rise and a lot of that was triggered by the events after the death of george floyd. so we did reboot the program after covid sta

thank you, mr. barr, for being here today. i would like to ask some questions about the regal standard for seizing interesting protesters. under an amendment, it requires probable cause before you can seize and arrest a protester, correct? a.g. barr: yes. yes. ok, and the probable cause has to be particularized to a particular person, so if a protester was merely standing around in a crowd and someone else was suspected of criminal activity, you cannot arrest that peaceful protest are. in other words, there is no such thing as probable cause by mere association, correct? a.g. barr: not strict like, but i do say you do need to particularized probable cause. >> and if there is no probable cause -- a.g. barr: if somebody jumped into a getaway car and there are three or four people, that might be enough for probable cause because of the circumstances. >> if there is no probable cause, you cannot arrest a protester, correct? a.g. barr: i said at the beginning, i rest has to be predicated on probable cause. >> all right. an arrest c

>> mr. barr? >> ten minutes? >> five? >> okay. recess for five? >> the committee will stand in recess for five minutes. >> watching a remarkably con tn shouse house judiciary committee hearing and attorney general barr asking for a five-minute recess there. the democrats making the case this they believe that the attorney general is simply a lackey for the president of the united states to do iz bidding and fighting back fiercely saying the president told him on criminal matters to make independent judgments and a big point of contention, the deployment of federal agents in portland where the attorney general says they're simply protecting federal property. the democrats saying it's for footage for trump campaign ads. let's discuss what we have heard so far. evan perez is with us and dana bash. we knew that from the beginning that the attorney general would stand his ground. what jumps out at you? >> john, i think the amount of time that the democrats have spent on trying to fight with the attorney general about the deployment of federal law enforc

mr. barr ever faced a capitol hill grilling as donald trump's attorney general. the judiciary committee battered him with questions under cutting d.o.j. business and using his power to escalate recent street clashes and racism in the justice system. this is a big day with many different angles to cover. later we'll be joined by none other than speaker nancy "pelicans live" "pelicans live -- nancy pelosi, live. this involves some of the blatant interference bill barr has done to help president trump. to try to spare convicted felons who worked for trump including roger stone and michael flynn. >> you overrule line of prosecutored and asked for lower sentence, talking about health, only to be considered for extraordinary physical impairment did that apply to roger stone mr. attorney general. >> actually i can't reveal -- >> i'm not asking what his health was but did that >> his health. is that a reason. >> health is a reason. >> i know is that the reason for roger stone. >> the judge agreed with

. >> 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? >> not that i recall. >> not that i recall is one of the favorite answers of witnesses who want to avoid perjury charges. i don't recall was his favorite answer as victims of trump university he defrauded discovered in their deposition of president trump. one of the dishonesties in william barr's testimony today was to claim he only investigates cases with real evidence that can be evaluated while pretending that he doesn't know anything about real criminal evidence that president trump has made public. here's more of that from congressman eric swalwell who will join our discussion in a moment. >> in president trump's america, there's 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 en

>> madam chair -- >> mr. barr -- >> can ask for a brief recess? 5. >> the committee will stand in recess for 5 minutes. >> [inaudible] >> melissa: you've been listening to attorney general barr testifying before the house judiciary committee, and there have been fireworks from the start. you will remember this here and got underway a bit late, because chairman nadler, on his way there, was involved in a car accident. as soon as this thing got underway, there were a lot of verbal shots fired from both sides. ag barr, on roger stone, saying he was prosecuted under me. "i said all along he should go to jail. the line prosecute as were advocating for twice what any other person had served." that's part of the testimony there. they have talked a lot about the riots in portland and elsewhere. in fact, republicans at the beginning just played some video of what was going on in portland, and led to the chaos and violence speak for itself. at that point, chairman nadler said they didn't appropriately ask for that video to be played ahead of time, and object

these discussions also reveal how mr. barr seems to selectively invoke references to the law when convenient. he used that line, you just saw on foreign assistance. when it came to president trump's handling of the coronavirus. let's be here. a doj official could try to say that there's no legal reason to get into that in detail. barr took opportunity to flash his political loyalty to donald trump by backing him at every turn. >> president trump said, i take no responsibility at all for the failure in testing. baltimore superb? yes or no? >> it was accurate. >> president trump irresponsibly suggested that the american people inject themselves with bleach. was that superb? yes or no? >> that's not what i heard. >> that's exactly what he said. president trump falsely claimed that 99% of covid-19 cases are, quote, totally harmless. baltimo was that superb? yes or no? >> i think what he was saying was that the fatality rate relatively is very low. >> the answer is, 150,000 americans are dead. >> you take it all together. more happ

and i control it. >> i will get to that. >> does it have to be. >> mr. barrll get to that reclaiming my time. you answered the question. i have another question for you. on june 19th. >> actually, i need to answer that question. >> mr. attorney general, did you answer the question. >> you said under penalty of perjury. i'm going to answer the damn question. steve: he did his best. he was calm, cool and collected. he did raise his voice a couple of times when they simply would not let him answer. think about this. you know, the democrats are in a pickle. because they are all up because it's the house. they are all up for re-election in november. the russia investigation went nowhere. the impeachment was a bust. this time, this comes just in time for these exchanges to wind up in their tv ads. every one of those democrats can now run an ad where they show i stood up to that boogie man from the administration, that terrible bill barr. it was awful. the "new york post" said jerry nadler was in two car crashes yesterday. the first delayed the hearing by about an h

>> shame on you, mr. barr. my time has expired. >> i have short time and you cannot explain to me -- >> we were making now -- >> time is clear. >> will you restore my time because this witness is speaking over my time? >> mr. attorney general, i want to respect you but i have a short time. >> when people resist law enforcement they are not peace -- >> you are claiming my time. i'm surprised that your lack of respect. >> this was a hearing that i thought i was the one supposed to be heard. >> sean: admits to all the political theater and the campaign, campaign biden add the entire day today, house republicans did by your back. they expose this all for what it is, another pointless political stunt. congressman matt gaetz, doug collins will be here with more straight ahead. let me be clear. these democrats, they have a blind rage towards the attorney general for two reasons, he's actually taking actions to restore law and order, and actually taking action to protect federal property and bring left-wing lawlessness

take a look. >> you really can't hide behind legal fiction this time, mr. barr. it's all out in the open where people can see what you are doing for themselves. the president wants footage for his campaign ads, and you appear to be serving it up to him as ordered. in most of these cities, their protests have begun to wind down before you marched in and confronted the protesters. he did it here in washington, you did in lafayette square, you expanded to portland, and now you are projecting fear and violence nationwide. in pursuit of obvious political objectives. shame on you, mr. barr. >> sean: shame on you you liar, conspiracy theorist jerry nadler. here with reaction, former republican congressman trey gowdy. the talking points were all the same, i would call your congressman, but it's an insult at this point after today's show, but i am watching it today, they all regurgitate at the same line. you are doing this, there is no violence, that's a lie. do all these over 1500 police officers injured and many more, some blinded now i think we are up to 16 dead, are m

mr. barr, you may begin. a.g. barr: good morning mr. chairman, ranking member jordan. i am pleased to be here this morning. on behalf of the department of justice i want to pay my respects to your colleague, congressman john lewis. an indomitable champion of civil rights and the rule of law. i think it is especially important to remember today he pursued his cause passionately and successfully with unwavering commitment to nonviolence. as i said in my confirmation hearing, the attorney general has the unique obligation. he holds in trust the fair and impartial administration of justice. he must ensure there is one standard of justice that applies to everyone equally and criminal cases are handled evenhandedly based on the law and the facts and without regard to political or personal considerations. i can tell you i have handled criminal matters that have come to me for decision in this way. the president has not attempted to interfere in these decisions. on the contrary he has told me from the start that he expects me to exercise my independent judgment, to make whatev

. >> shame on you, mr. barr. shame on you. >> reporter: from the get-go, a house judiciary hearing where attorney general william barr was confrontation. . >> you seem to have a different time understanding systemic racism. >> democrats accused mr. barr of doing president trump's bid. and mr. barr, apparently the president believes that that you can be activated. >> they questioned why roger stone's jail sentence was commuted. >> i agree the president's friends don't deserve special breaks, put they everything else don't deserve to be treated more hash usually than other peopl . >> reporter: this cage raise something eyebrows. >> is it every appropriate, sir, for the president to solicit or accept foreign asince stance in an election? >> depends what kind of assistance. >> is it ever appropriate for the president or presidential candidate to accept or solicit foreign assistance of any kind in his or her election? >> no, it's not appropriate. >> okay. sorry you had to struggle with that one, mr. attorney general. >

the committee, dominated by democrats, covered a wide range of controversial actions from mr barr's departmentowed william barr's testimony. well, it was a contentious marathon hearing on capitol hill between attorney general william barr and the house judiciary committee. you saw republicans very much defending barr against democrats, who really went on an all—out assault against william barr, essentially accusing him of being the president's henchman when it comes to deploying these federal troops to areas where protests have been taking place, such as portland. we also saw democrats also accusing william barr of being too easy on a number of president trump's associates, such as roger stone, who have essentially not gottenjail time despite committing crimes. so a very contentious, heated hearing with the 2020 election very much an undertone. on that point, it was kind of odd, wasn't it, to see the top legal officer in the country struggling with a question about whether foreign interference in an american election was a bad thing? absolutely. and this also comes as the us intelligence commu

in testimony to congress, mr barr said anti—racism protesters in portland, oregon, are committing "and there are signs of a "second wave" of coronavirus in europe, as he defended a 14—day quarantine on travellers from spain. he said the government had to take swift action and hinted there may be further quara ntines for holiday—makers. in germany, police are searching a garden

did i get it right, mr. barr? >> joining us now, cnn chief legal analyst, jeffrey tubin and cnn legal analyst, laura coates. that was representative of five hours yesterday. that encapsulates, i think, what we saw. and laura, when you heard the attorney general say "i don't agree with your characterizations with tcharac n characterization," i think that is even more representative of the entire five hours, which is that william barr was on a different planet, and i'll let you decide whether that was a good planet or bad planet, from where the democrats in that committee were. >> it was the bad planet, spoiler alert, john. and the reason it was the bad planet, i tried to pull the wool over the nation's eyes and the eyes have already seen it. the idea that you could not definitively say that you should not use a chemical irritant, a tear gassing agent of some sort to pry to push back peaceful protesters who are exercising their first amendment right on one of the most iconic public forums in the entire world, the ar

projecting fear and violence nationwide in pursuit of obvious political objectives shame on you, mr. barr. >> reporter: barr says attackers at the portland courthouse have set fires >> thrown things, used explosives, and injured police including just this past weekend perhaps permanently blinding three federal officers with lasers. >> reporter: democrats question the use of force to clear lafayette park in june just before president trump walked to a nearby church and held up a bible barr said it was to protect the white house and nearby buildings. >> the movement was not geared to the behavior of that particular crowd it was geared to the fact that we were moving the perimeter out so we could put a fence up on "h" street. >> reporter: barr was also asked why he sought a more lenient sentence for trump friend roger stone and moved to dismiss charges against michael flynn? >> in donald trump's america there are two systems of justice, one for mr. trump and his cronies and another for the rest of us. >> reporter: but barr said he made those decisions without any white house pressure >> i wo