Bill Barr, who is supposedly the US Attorney General but acts like Donald Trump’s personal lawyer and fixer, testified under oath to Congress on Tuesday. Here’s a list of lies and stupid things he said:
- Could not answer whether the President has the power to move the date of the election (he doesn’t)
- Wouldn’t acknowledge that if a person not suspected of committing any crime is detained, forced into a car where they are not free to leave (“in custody”), driven to an unknown location, and questioned, that the person is under arrest (they are)
- Stated that law enforcement are allowed to use force — including pepper spray and tear gas — in a non-emergency situation to disperse peaceful protesters engaged in lawful assembly (peaceful protest is a constitutional right)
- Could not immediately state that foreign assistance to a presidential campaign is categorically prohibited (it is)
- Had zero evidence (and admitted as much under oath) to back up his statement that large numbers of people who cast their votes by mail could end up “rigging” the election
- Unable to explain why the “antifa movement” — which he conceded are loosely-affiliated groups/individuals — are considered “terrorists” (also did not address why the same rationale would not apply to right-wing extremists)
- Said he wouldn’t open an investigation even in light of evidence indicating that the president may have committed a crime (specifically in reference to the Stone commutation/quid pro quo)
- Would not commit to following DOJ’s policy against releasing politically-sensitive information (i.e., Durham “investigation”) right before election
- Declared that there is no such thing as systemic racism in policing
- Offered “proof” that there is no systemic racism by noting that 8 unarmed Black people and 11 unarmed White people have been killed by police this year (ignores that the US population is 15% black and 60% white; if you add white Hispanics, it’s 72%)
I want to add some information about #6, where Barr calls anti-fascists terrorists, but won’t use the same label on right-wing extremists. In the last 25 years, anti-fascist attacks have not resulted in any victims killed. Zero. But white supremacists and other right-wing extremists have carried out attacks leaving at least 329 victims dead. (There was actually one anti-fascist attack that lead to a death, but it was the anti-fascist who died).
If you consider all violence (not just attacks) since 2010 comparing left-wing to right-wing violence in the US:
- Left-wing violence resulted in 21 victims killed
- Right-wing violence resulted in 117 victims killed
- For comparison, jihadist attacks resulted in 95 victims killed. So right-wing violence has killed more people than actual Islamic terrorists.
And let’s not even talk about the 150,000 Americans who have died because of Trump’s incompetent response to the coronavirus, the worst in the world.
5 Comments
In my mind, I’m certain the Barr actually knows the answers the answers to numbers 1 through 4. He’s not stupid, just playing dumb. It’s concerning, if only, in my conspiratorial mind, this means that there have already been discussion of these topics at high levels and that these are the answers agreed to. Numbers 1 and 4 are especially concerning.
Did Barr receive his JD from Trump University? Right Wing killed (117) is more then Left and Jihad combined (116). Impeach Barr. Easy. There will still be time to impeach Trump and Barr in early January once the new Congress is seated.
Trump already floated/tweeted to delay elections, and Barr will do some legal backing
Yes, Bill Barr does definitely suck.
But IK, could you ‘splain this, please?
“If you consider all violence (not just attacks) since 2010 comparing left-wing to right-wing violence in the US:
Left-wing violence resulted in 21 victims killed”
I wasn’t aware of any left-wing violence, and I’d kind of feel better to know there really had been some. What was it?
Westomoon, my post includes a link to an article (in The Guardian) that answers your question. Look for the section with the heading “Categorizing ‘leftwing’ extremist attacks”.
They go through the examples in detail, but here’s the summary: “Most of the deadly extremist attacks the CSIS researchers categorized as ‘leftwing’ were killings of police officers by black men, many of them US military veterans, who described acting out of anger or retribution for police killings of black Americans.”