Washington Attorney General William Barr will testify Tuesday in what is likely to be a contentious hearing before the House Judiciary Committee. His appearance comes as the Justice Department faces scrutiny over handling cases involving President Trump’s allies and his response to civil unrest across the country.
In its opening statement preparedBarr rebukes Democrats for painting him as a puppet of President Trump and questions his motives for asking him to testify.
“Since I made it clear that I was going to do everything possible to get to the bottom of the serious abuses involved in the false ‘Russiagate’ scandal, many of the Democrats on this Committee have tried to discredit me by conjuring up a narrative that I am simply the fact of the president who eliminates criminal cases according to his instructions, “Barr will say, according to the opening statement released Monday.
His testimony before the committee’s 40 members marks the first time he has appeared before the panel led by Democrats. The Judiciary Committee has increasingly focused on the possible politicization of the Justice Department under Barr’s mandate after episodes involving Michael Flynn, Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser, and Roger Stone, his ally of all life, as well as the firing of US Attorney Geoffrey Berman in the Southern District of New York.
In addition to questions about the Justice Department’s handling of the Stone and Flynn cases, lawmakers are likely to pressure Barr on the federal response to the protests following George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis in late May.
The hearing was supposed to start at 10 a.m., but the president of the Judicial Chamber, Jerry Nadler, was involved in a car accident on his way to Washington. He was not injured, but the hearing will be delayed until 10:45 am
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