POOL

Washington DC - 28 June 2020

1. Cutaway of House Judiciary Committee hearing

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Jerry Nadler, (D) New York, Chairman, House Judiciary Committee:

"In the hands of President Trump, a Department of Justice that adopts a dangerously expansive view of executive power and demonstrates a willingness to shield him from accountability represents a direct threat to the liberty and safety of the country."

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3. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Jerry Nadler, (D) New York, Chairman, House Judiciary Committee:

"And we were warned. At your confirmation hearing, Professor Neil Kinkopf testified and I quote, public confidence in the rule of law depends on there being an Attorney General who will not allow the president to do whatever he wants with the Justice Department. William Barr's views of presidential power are so radically mistaken that he is simply the wrong man at the wrong time to be Attorney General of the United States. Close quote. Again, this failure of leadership comes at great cost. This administration has twisted the Department of Justice into a shadow of its former self, capable of serving most Americans only after it has first served those in power."

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4. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Jerry Nadler, (D) New York, Chairman, House Judiciary Committee:

"This committee has a responsibility to protect Americans from that kind of corruption, Mr. Barr. We have a responsibility to ensure that the Justice Department and its Attorney General administer justice equally and fairly. And this is what has brought us to this hearing room today. We want to give you a chance to respond to our questions to these and other matters. And we hope and expect that you will do so in a clear and forthright manner. Our members expect sincere answers today, and our country deserves no less."

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5. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Jim Jordan (R) Ohio, Ranking Member, House Judiciary Committee:

"Spying. That one word. That's why they're after you, Mr. Attorney General. Fifteen months ago, April 10th, 2019 and a Senate hearing, you said this sentence, quote, I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal. Spying on a political campaign is a big deal. It sure is. And since that day, since that day when you had the courage to state the truth, they attacked you. They'd been attacking you every since every day, every week for simply stating the truth that the Obama Biden administration spied on the Trump campaign."

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6. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Jim Jordan (R) Ohio, Ranking Member, House Judiciary Committee:

"He had the courage to do what no one else would do at the Justice Department. Sally Yates wouldn't call it spying. Jeff Sessions wouldn't do it. Rod Rosenstein wouldn't do it. Chris Wray sure as heck isn't going to do it. So, Mr. Attorney General, I want to thank you for having the courage to call it what it was - spying. I want to thank you for having the courage to say we're going to get the politics out of the Department of Justice that was there in the previous administration. And maybe most importantly, we're going to talk about this in our side when questioning. I want to thank you for defending law enforcement, for pointing out what a crazy idea this defund the police policy, whatever you want to call it is and standing up for the rule of law."

7. Wide shot of hearing

The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee is questioning Attorney General Barr on his handling of various legal issues that have reflected a "dangerously expansive view of executive power and demonstrates a willingness to shield" President Donald Trump.

"This committee has a responsibility to protect Americans from that kind of corruption, Mr. Barr. We have a responsibility to ensure that the Justice Department and its Attorney General administer justice equally and fairly," said Chairman Jerry Nadler.

"We want to give you a chance to respond to our questions to these and other matters. And we hope and expect that you will do so in a clear and forthright manner. Our members expect sincere answers today, and our country deserves no less."

The hearing was to begin at 10 a.m. but was pushed back by 45 minutes because the committee's chairman, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, was involved in a minor car accident on the drive down from New York, his office said. He was not injured.

The hearing on Tuesday marks Barr’s first appearance before the House Judiciary Committee, bringing him face-to-face with a panel that voted last year to hold him in contempt and is holding hearings on what Democrats allege is politicization of the Justice Department under his watch.

It comes during a tumultuous stretch in which Barr has taken a series of actions cheered by President Donald Trump but condemned by Democrats and other critics.

Beyond the federal response to the demonstrations, Barr is also expected to be pressed in detail about his intervention in criminal cases arising from special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. The hearing will provide Barr with a forum to offer his most detailed account to date for his actions in the criminal cases, which he has said were taken in the interests of justice and without political pressure.

Those include the Justice Department's decision to drop the prosecution of former Trump administration national security adviser Michael Flynn - a request now tied up in court - and his firing last month of the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, whose office oversaw investigations into allies of the president.

Barr also pushed for a more lenient sentence for another Trump ally, Roger Stone, prompting the entire trial team's departure. That decision was at the center of a separate hearing before the same committee last month, when one of the prosecutors alleged that politics from Justice Department leadership had influenced the handling of the sentence.