Attorney General William Barr on Sunday again defended the
aggressive clearing by police of a crowd of largely peaceful
demonstrators from outside Lafayette Square last week, and lashed
out at the media for its reports on the event.
In a testy interview on CBS’s “Face The Nation,” Barr said the
methods used to push back the protesters — which included charging
at them with mounted police and firing canisters that sent plumes
of noxious smoke into the crowd — were appropriate when police “met
resistance.”
He gave an account of the incident that belied what reporters
and demonstrators experienced — claiming, for example, that no tear
gas was used, even though people at the scene were hit with a gas
that stung their eyes and induced coughing. And he made the claim
that pepper spray is “not a chemical irritant.”
“It’s not chemical,” Barr said.
Park Police have conceded using “smoke canisters and pepper
balls.” At least one spent canister recovered from the streets
outside the park Monday by reporters was clearly labeled “Skat
Shell OC,” a compound that, when it gets into the eyes and nose,
causes searing pain, coughing and mucus secretion.
The police move, which has been widely condemned, came just
before President Donald Trump addressed the nation and then walked
across the cleared area so he could pose for a photo in front of
St. John’s Church.
Barr said that during the weekend, demonstrators had attacked
police, burned down a structure in the square and set a fire in the
church. He said that on Monday about 2 p.m., he told police
agencies that the perimeter outside the square, which is in front
of the White House, would have to be pushed northward by one
block.
At that point, Barr said, he did not know of Trump’s plans for a
speech that day. He previously has said Trump’s going to the church
was “entirely appropriate.”
Barr said police asked the crowd to move three times Monday.
Reporters on the scene and demonstrators said they could not make
out any audible warnings. Barr said some in the crowd threw
projectiles.
“They were not peaceful protesters,” Barr said. “And that’s one
of the big lies that the media seems to be perpetuating at this
point.”
Barr was spotted at the scene just before police moved on
protesters, and a Justice Department official and the White House
press secretary have said he told law enforcement on the ground to
extend the perimeter as part of the plan that had been hatched
earlier. But in an interview with the Associated Press on Friday,
Barr seemed to try to distance himself from what police did,
claiming he did not give the “tactical” order for law enforcement
officers to move in.
Asked on “Face the Nation” whether he would have done anything
different in hindsight, Barr said, “I haven’t studied the events
retrospectively in detail, but I think in general, you had the
qualified law enforcement officials with shields warning and moving
a line slowly. They had mounted officers moving slowly, directing
people to move. And most people complied.”
In the same interview, Barr signaled that he was reluctant to
open a broad “pattern or practice” investigation into possible
systemic problems at the Minneapolis Police Department, arguing
that the actions of one officer do not necessarily indicate
widespread problems.
The comments came as host Margaret Brennan pressed Barr on his
views on whether there are systemic problems with policing in
America.
“Doesn’t opening the pattern-or-practice investigation into a
place like Minneapolis where there are questions about the broader
issues with policing — it wasn’t just the one officer — wouldn’t
that answer that question?” Brennan asked.
A pattern-or-practice investigation, run by the Justice
Department’s Civil Rights Division, takes a broad look at the
practices of a police department, and typically results in a
court-approved agreement to force reforms.
Such investigations were used frequently in the Obama
administration, but have been all but abandoned under Trump.
Civil-liberties advocates and Democratic lawmakers have called on
the Justice Department to investigate the Minneapolis Police
Department more broadly alongside the civil-rights investigation
into the death of George Floyd at law enforcement hands. It was
Floyd’s death that sparked what are now massive protests across the
country and in other nations against police violence.
“That’s exactly the reaction that I think has been a problem in
the past, which is … just reacting to this incident by immediately
putting the department under investigation doesn’t necessarily
result in improving the situation,” Barr said, noting that state
authorities were already examining the department.
“We stand ready to act if we think it’s necessary,” Barr said.
“But I don’t think necessarily starting a pattern-or-practice
investigation at this stage is warranted.”
Asked whether he thinks there is “systemic racism in law
enforcement,” Barr said, “I think there’s racism in the United
States still, but I don’t think that the law enforcement system is
systemically racist.”
“I understand the distrust, however, of the African American
community given the history in this country,” Barr said. “I think
we have to recognize that for most of our history, our institutions
were explicitly racist.”
Attorney General William Barr on Sunday again defended the
aggressive clearing by police of a crowd of largely peaceful
demonstrators from outside Lafayette Square last week, and lashed
out at the media for its reports on the event.
In a testy interview on CBS’s “Face The Nation,” Barr said the
methods used to push back the protesters — which included charging
at them with mounted police and firing canisters that sent plumes
of noxious smoke into the crowd — were appropriate when police “met
resistance.”
He gave an account of the incident that belied what reporters
and demonstrators experienced — claiming, for example, that no tear
gas was used, even though people at the scene were hit with a gas
that stung their eyes and induced coughing. And he made the claim
that pepper spray is “not a chemical irritant.”
“It’s not chemical,” Barr said.
Park Police have conceded using “smoke canisters and pepper
balls.” At least one spent canister recovered from the streets
outside the park Monday by reporters was clearly labeled “Skat
Shell OC,” a compound that, when it gets into the eyes and nose,
causes searing pain, coughing and mucus secretion.
The police move, which has been widely condemned, came just
before President Donald Trump addressed the nation and then walked
across the cleared area so he could pose for a photo in front of
St. John’s Church.
Barr said that during the weekend, demonstrators had attacked
police, burned down a structure in the square and set a fire in the
church. He said that on Monday about 2 p.m., he told police
agencies that the perimeter outside the square, which is in front
of the White House, would have to be pushed northward by one
block.
At that point, Barr said, he did not know of Trump’s plans for a
speech that day. He previously has said Trump’s going to the church
was “entirely appropriate.”
Barr said police asked the crowd to move three times Monday.
Reporters on the scene and demonstrators said they could not make
out any audible warnings. Barr said some in the crowd threw
projectiles.
“They were not peaceful protesters,” Barr said. “And that’s one
of the big lies that the media seems to be perpetuating at this
point.”
Barr was spotted at the scene just before police moved on
protesters, and a Justice Department official and the White House
press secretary have said he told law enforcement on the ground to
extend the perimeter as part of the plan that had been hatched
earlier. But in an interview with the Associated Press on Friday,
Barr seemed to try to distance himself from what police did,
claiming he did not give the “tactical” order for law enforcement
officers to move in.
Asked on “Face the Nation” whether he would have done anything
different in hindsight, Barr said, “I haven’t studied the events
retrospectively in detail, but I think in general, you had the
qualified law enforcement officials with shields warning and moving
a line slowly. They had mounted officers moving slowly, directing
people to move. And most people complied.”
In the same interview, Barr signaled that he was reluctant to
open a broad “pattern or practice” investigation into possible
systemic problems at the Minneapolis Police Department, arguing
that the actions of one officer do not necessarily indicate
widespread problems.
The comments came as host Margaret Brennan pressed Barr on his
views on whether there are systemic problems with policing in
America.
“Doesn’t opening the pattern-or-practice investigation into a
place like Minneapolis where there are questions about the broader
issues with policing — it wasn’t just the one officer — wouldn’t
that answer that question?” Brennan asked.
A pattern-or-practice investigation, run by the Justice
Department’s Civil Rights Division, takes a broad look at the
practices of a police department, and typically results in a
court-approved agreement to force reforms.
Such investigations were used frequently in the Obama
administration, but have been all but abandoned under Trump.
Civil-liberties advocates and Democratic lawmakers have called on
the Justice Department to investigate the Minneapolis Police
Department more broadly alongside the civil-rights investigation
into the death of George Floyd at law enforcement hands. It was
Floyd’s death that sparked what are now massive protests across the
country and in other nations against police violence.
“That’s exactly the reaction that I think has been a problem in
the past, which is … just reacting to this incident by immediately
putting the department under investigation doesn’t necessarily
result in improving the situation,” Barr said, noting that state
authorities were already examining the department.
“We stand ready to act if we think it’s necessary,” Barr said.
“But I don’t think necessarily starting a pattern-or-practice
investigation at this stage is warranted.”
Asked whether he thinks there is “systemic racism in law
enforcement,” Barr said, “I think there’s racism in the United
States still, but I don’t think that the law enforcement system is
systemically racist.”
“I understand the distrust, however, of the African American
community given the history in this country,” Barr said. “I think
we have to recognize that for most of our history, our institutions
were explicitly racist.”