Interviewn an recently there is a escalation in place. You . As this elevated to a. G. Barr on monday, february 10, the u. S. Attorney was with me and he raised the issue with me. Had it been elevated between the two months that this came in . Nder the former u. S. Attorney a. G. Barr i think he may have had conversations with people. Did you ever have conversations with the former u. S. Attorney about this case . I do not recall any discussion. You said in the interview that he was new, he had just started. But he had worked for you for a long time. What was his job . A. G. Barr when i was attorney general 30 years ago. He was on my staff. He advised you on criminal Justice Policy . A. G. Barr correct. You named him acting u. S. Attorney. Had you discussed the stone case with him . A. G. Barr no. You said he came in the week before. To see some senior staff. He may have had some discussions. I was not involved in them. No substance of involvement with stone until he came in on the morning. I think he had raised it with the deputy offices. The first week he was there he came to raise this issue. A. G. Barr i think he started february 1. That is what you told abc news. That he talked to senior staff. I think i speak english. He had some conversations. Did you talk to the senior staff . They said he was trying to work something out. He was optimistic that something could be worked out. He filed the sentencing memo and it called for 79 years. Then you overruled and asked for a lower sentence. That apply to roger stone . A. G. Barr i cannot reveal all of the information. Does that apply . A. G. Barr no. Did what apply . s health. A. G. Barr health is a reason. Was that the case for roger stone . Age can be a consideration only if it creates conditions to an unusual degree. He is 67. A. G. Barr the judge agreed with me. I am not asking you that. A. G. Barr i know youre not. The issue here is whether roger stone was treated differently because he was friends with the president. When you asked to reduce the sentence, you said enhancements were technically applicable. Do you think of other times when a defendant threatened to kill a witness, threaten to a judge, lied to a judge where the Justice Department claims those were mere technicality. A. G. Barr the judge agreed with us. I am not asking about that. I am asking about what you did hereduce the sentence threatened the life of a witness. A. G. Barr can i answer the question . I am asking if there is another time. A. G. Barr the judge agreed with me. Appearances. This is exactly what you want. The rule of law for everybody. And we dont in this case because he is a friend of the president. Thank you for being here. I am a member of this committee and the appropriations committee. I have seen firsthand the funding in the operation of the department. I served on the city council in my hometown of mike conaway alabama. I witnessed the value of different grant programs. It is also responsible for the Alabama Center for missing and exploited children. It has done a great job combating child expectation. Isyou believe that congress adequately funding programs that provide states and local agencies with the tools that effective inbe preventing and pursuing crimes such as child expectation and Human Trafficking . Particularly over the internet . We could i think always use more resources. The u. S. Attorney came to me and said the prosecutors were threatening to resign. Tore was no comparable case support that sentence. It wouldve been very disparate. Clustered cases were around a three year sentence for that. Had gotten to that number was applying an enhancement. There are debates all the time within the Justice Department about the upper calculations they were saying he had a phone call at night and told the witness lets get it on. I will kill your dog. We thought that technically could apply but in this case it did not afflict the overarching conduct. We make individual assessments of the defendant. Nothing is excessive. Tose individuals were trying force the u. S. Attorney to adopt that sentence. I made the decision though, we are going to leave it up to the judge. Later, when that was not done that evening, i told people we have to go back and correct that the next morning. That was the sequence of events. At the end of the day, the proof and the footings in ve day. The judge would not have gone along with the first recommendation because the enhancement artificially inflated the exposure of the defendant. At the end of the day, the question is fairness to the individual. Even though i was going to get a lot of criticism for doing that. I am happy to have yielded you time to respond. I am a departing member of congress. I have just a few short moments left. Hownt to express to you much this is means to me. I am increasingly alarmed about the way that children are one from being on a forum or a chat room with bad actors. I appreciate all the work. A. G. Barr one of the most difficult issues coming up his encryption. Rep. Bass last august, when speaking to the National Fraternal order of place, you that this willws make everyone safe. You said zerotolerance for resisting police. A. G. Barr i think it is very important. Barr a zero is costing lives. Elijah mcclain was walking home from a Convenience Store when he was approached by police. He had not committed a crime. Police held him in a choke hold and then injected him with ketamine. Are you familiar with the case . Do you know how frequently cadman is used ketamine is us ed . Do you know if Police Departments have been directed to document paramedics . A. G. Barr no. Have not i guess you evaluated the use of force tactics since becoming attorney general. A. G. Barr not with respect to that. Will you commit to directing the department to evaluating the protocols around the use of otherne, chokehold, and uses of force . A. G. Barr absolutely. Under the president s executive order, we are reviewing that. The bass especially ketamine. That is pretty outrageous. George floyd was killed by a Police Officer via chokehold. He was suspected of using a counterfeit 20 bill. Consider james holmes, who murdered 12 people and injured 70 others in a Movie Theater in aurora, colorado the same town as Elijah Mcclain. He wore body armor, had a knife, semi automatic weapons, and in ar15. Yet he was calmly arrested by the same Police Department as Elijah Mcclain without a chokehold or injection of enemy. Used a gun to injure nine people. When he was arrested, no chokehold, no injections. He was treated so well that officers brought him burger king. Are you familiar with that case. A. G. Barr yes. Rep. Bass i racist too example to follow up on what my colleague from texas highlighted earlier. The department is not doing enough to address issues of racism, bias, and brutality in Law Enforcement. When someone who commits mass murder is calmly arrested while a young man walking down the street is placed in a chokehold and injected with ketamine. You set under the executive order the administration is looking at chokehold. What have you determined so far . A. G. Barr we are setting up a system of certification of Police Departments. That would include limitations on use of force. Part of that act called for a National Registry of Law Enforcement officers. Tamir rice might be alive today if the police chief who hired that officer had known that the officer had been fired from another department. What is your view of a National Registry of Law Enforcement officers . Aspect of the second the president s executive order is to set up a database. If Police Departments are not reporting that information, they without the certified. Rep. Bass thank you. I want to comment on part of your Opening Statement when you said after the jim crow. That our Justice System was equal. I do not believe that. A. G. Barr i set the laws were made equal. Rep. Bass they are certainly not applied equally. We have systemic problems in our Law Enforcement. 2. 3 Million People in the u. S. Are incarcerated. 34 are black. While africanamericans are just 13 of the u. S. Population. It is not the numbers, it is the. Ercentage gaetz you described the prosecution of roger stone as righteous. I would suggest that uncovering the criminal conspiracy that exists where people in our own government are trying to convince intelligence agencies around the world to destabilize our election and discredit our president would be more righteous. I dont think any of those other folks are killing anyone or burning down our buildings. I would like to focus our efforts. You said antifa is a terrorist organization. What is your basis for that belief . A. G. Barr im not sure i said terrorist organization. I said we are investigating as of terrorism. There are a number of violent extreme groups in the u. S. And they are across the spectrum. Antifa is heavily represented in the recent riots. They have 10 identified as being involved in a number of violent mob actions. Rep. Gaetz some say antifa is a myth. That their involvement in this violence is not something that israel. What is your reaction . A. G. Barr i dont think it is a myth. Asifa can be best thought of an umbrella term for what is essentially a movement comprised of loosely organized groups around the country. There are a number of groups and centers of activity. Organized are loosely but they are definitely organized. They do not get along very well. They tend to get organized for an event. There is a lot of organization right before an event occurs. Rep. Gaetz that is a really important distinction when considering how to apply our rico laws to Something Like this. That strikes me as legally distinct. I wonder if there is a risk if this will metastasize to other parts of the country. A. G. Barr we are concerned about this. We feel like we have to, and a place like portland, or even where we do not have the support of the State Government or local government, we have to take a stand and defends federal property. Wherenot get to a level we will accept these kinds of violence. If you did what my democratic colleagues were asking, if you abandon that federal property and allow people inside to be harmed, is it your view that antifa and other violent people would civilly stop and accept that as their sole victory . Or is it your Expert Opinion that they would not stop . A. G. Barr there is no doubt in my mind it would spread. Rep. Gaetz what comfort can you give americans in my district and around the country that you . Ill stop the burning that you will give confidence to regular americans that they can go out in the streets . A. G. Barr as you can see in portland, we have a small number of federal officers. It is a great strain but we cannot stand aside and allow federal court to be destroyed. Rep. Gaetz thank you for your service and your great work. Thank you. Started with eloquent words about john lewis. When you came here and brought your top staff, you brought no black people. That is systematic racism. That is exactly what john lewis spent his life fighting. Suggest that actions speak louder than words. The namey should keep of john lewis out of the department of justices mouth. Talkedalso say, you about the bogus russia investigation. Is russia attempting to interfere in the 2020 president election . I think we have to assume they are. Thank you. Lets talk about the integrity of the election, which is also something congressman lewis fought for. Kenny sitting u. S. President move and election date . A. G. Barr i have not looked under that in the constitution. If you take that as the correct statue, is there any executive action . A. G. Barr i have never looked into it. That this 2020ve president ial election will be rigged . A. G. Barr i have no reason to think it will be. Thatesident trump tweeted the election will be rigged. That when heweeted was losing to hillary clinton. I dont want to be too political. Do you believe as attorney general that mailin voting will lead to massive voter fraud . A. G. Barr i think there is a high risk that it will. Do you ever vote by mailin ballot . A. G. Barr i did once. What you believe other people voting by mailin ballot could lead to massive fraud . A. G. Barr what i have made very clear is i am not talking about complications for people who have to be out of the state or have some particular need or inability to going vote. You do understand that africanamericans disproportionally do not survive covid19 . A. G. Barr yes, i think that is right. The firstuld not be time that africanamericans would risk their lives to vote in this country to preserve its democracy. That of themn is having the ability to vote by tol would somehow lead massive voter fraud. A. G. Barr i did not say that. If you have wholesale mailin voting, it increases the risk of fraud. Can a president protest because he lost an election . A. G. Barr protest in what sense . Can he contest and election because he loses . That was over a slim voter margin. If it is very clear that the president has lost an election, does he have a remedy to contested . A. G. Barr not that i am aware of. To whate go back representative bass mentioned. You mentioned eight after marrying after americans killed by the police. 85you use those numbers, percent of the population is white. 42 of the deaths are africanamerican. Is a glaring disparity in terms of population. A. G. Barr not necessarily. You have to adjusted by the race of the criminal perpetrator. I just did that for you. Im using your number. I wanted to give you that based on your numbers. A. G. Barr the studies i have seen have suggested two things. Likely to shoot at a black suspect. A little bit more likely to shoot at a white suspect. The fact that police are more inclined to use nonlethal force and a contact with an africanamerican suspect. In terms of the statistics, that is what it looks like to me. Have, that is you incorrect. I am interested in seeing it. Send me the data on africanamericans within the department of justice. How many you have in leadership ranks. I yield back. Nadler i would remind you to stop violating the rules of the committee. Stop violating the safety of the members of the committee. Stop holding themselves out as not caring by refusing to wear their masks. It is permissible to drink a sip of coffee . That is why i took off my mask. Rep. Nadler mr. Jordan is recognized. Jordan the judge agreed with your sentencing . A. G. Barr that is right. Rep. Jordan would st. Johns church be standing today if you had not taken action . A. G. Barr that was on sunday night. I think Law Enforcement did use tear gas. So the firetrucks could get in to save it. Rep. Jordan seven people at the Treasury Department unmasked Michael Flynns name. This is an issue youre looking into . Another u. S. Asked attorney to look into the issue of unmasking. Because of the high number of notskings and some that do readily appear to have been in the line of normal business. There is another investigation going on . A. G. Barr yes. Rep. Jordan that is great. He is looking at how this started. Rep. Jordan 38 people 49 times unmasked his name. That was in the final days of the obamabiden administration. A. G. Barr over a much longer time. Rep. Jordan even before that. I appreciate that. Our peaceful protests violent . A. G. Barr no. Rep. Jordan do they destroy businesses . A. G. Barr no. Rep. Jordan to the injure officers . A. G. Barr no. Rep. Jordan today attack civilians . A. G. Barr no. Rep. Jordan to the burned down buildings . A. G. Barr no. Rep. Jordan the video we play, it is really hard to watch. To see that happening in our great country. The start of it was almost laughable where you have the reporter saying, as a building is burning behind him, it is not an unruly protest. He said is its a peaceful burning building. Is defunding the police a rational policy . A. G. Barr no. If anything, i am more concerned that the police be adequately funded. And get more resources. A lot of the things we need to do to address the concerns people have about minneapolis are going to take some time. One of the difficulties in our we have 18,000 Law Enforcement agencies. Most of them are very small. We have to find a way of training and making sure the training is being pushed out. Rep. Jordan is it dangerous to defund the police . A. G. Barr extremely dangerous. Rep. Jordan are you familiar with the letter that the chief of police of seattle since two Business Owners and residents . A. G. Barr yes. She said she cannot protect and do her job. Rep. Jordan that is exactly what she said. The policy they are trying to pass gives officers knowability. To safely intercede. Said, she had given the citizens that she is supposed to serve, i have done my due diligence. This is why it is so dangerous. She said Seattle Police will have an adjusted deployment. That is a nice way of saying, you are on your own. We cannot help you. Heres the kicker. That is how ridiculous this is. I appreciate your work. I yield back. The job that the attorney general is to defend the best interests of the people. You have undermines democracy. Undermine the constitution. The health and safety and wellbeing of the American People. All to benefit donald trump. You testified there is no mechanism for a president to contest an election that has rarely been won by the opponent. What will you do if donald trump loses the election on november 3 but refuses to leave office on january 20 . A. G. Barr if the results are clear, i would leave office. Do you believe there is any basis or legitimacy to Donald Trumps recent claims that he cannot provide an answer as to whether he would leave office . A. G. Barr i am not familiar with these comments. Im not going to give commentary on them. You praised