Barr Responds to ‘Peaceful’ Protester Rant After Dem Rep Rudely Talks All Over Him

Democrats today turned Attorney General William Barr’s House Judiciary Committee Hearing into an attempt to bully and intimidate him into backing down from holding rioters accountable, as well as grandstand for their constituents and repeatedly interrupt him.

House Rep David Cicilline from Rhode Island posed a question and then said that he didn’t when AG Barr attempted to answer it. He then accused AG Barr of “furthering President Trump’s agenda.”

.@davidcicilline to AG Barr: “Protesters aren’t chaos!…”

“Sir, your failure to respect the role of peaceful protest in this country is a disgrace, it’s un-American. It’s important to remember what these protests are about: Black Lives Matter.” pic.twitter.com/G1rbVYaHyV

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) July 28, 2020

AG Barr read an opening statement at the beginning of the hearing, saying that “What unfolds nightly around the courthouse cannot reasonably be called protest. It is, by any objective measure, an assault on the government of the United States.”

BARR ON PORTLAND: “What unfolds nightly around the courthouse cannot reasonably be called protest. It is, by any objective measure, an assault on the government of the United States.” pic.twitter.com/7EoT79JlX4

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) July 28, 2020

“Violent rioters and anarchists have hijacked legitimate protests to wreak senseless havoc and destruction on innocent victims,” AG Barr said.

He dispelled the accusations that he was doing the president’s bidding, by saying that he was intervening in cases based on his own principles, not because Trump had pressured him.

“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. And that is precisely what I have done,” he said.