William Barr Defends Aggressive Response of Federal Agents to Curb Protests

The US Attorney General acknowledged that Floyd’s death struck a chord in the Black community because it reinforced concerns Black people are treated differently by police.

But he condemned Americans who he says have responded inappropriately to Floyd's death.

“As elected officials of the federal government, every member of this committee — regardless of your political views or your feelings about the Trump administration — should condemn violence against federal officers and destruction of federal property,” William Barr said.

Civil unrest escalated in Portland after federal agents were accused of whisking people away in unmarked cars without probable cause; the people were detained and later released.

And in Washington, D.C., peaceful protesters were violently cleared from the streets by federal officers using smoke bombs and pepper balls last month before a photo op by Trump in front of St. John's church.

William Barr defended the broad use of law enforcement power to deal with the situation, noting that protesters had earlier set fire to the church and "it was total consensus that you couldn’t allow that to happen so close to the White House.”

The department’s internal watchdog has opened investigations into the use of force and other tactics by agents in Washington and Portland.

He also said the force was used because the protesters would not disperse from the area when law enforcement officials were trying to move back the security perimeter, a decision made the night before.

When pressed on details, he pointed to the investigations.

The use of pepper spray was warranted, even if peaceful protesters were also harmed, he said.

Beyond the federal response to the demonstrations, the US Attorney General was pressed in detail about his intervention in the Flynn and Stone cases, both of which arose from special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.

Democrats criticized him for partly taking into account Roger Stone's health and age, 67, and said those standards haven't been used in other similar cases.

William Barr said he told the acting US attorney that “we are going to leave it up to the judge”.

He also ordered the revised recommendation to be filed when the prosecutors submitted an initial recommendation calling for a sentence of seven to nine years.

“And even though I knew I would get a lot of criticism for doing that, I think at the end of the day my obligation is to be fair to the individual,” said the US Attorney General.