Barr clashes with Democrats over policing
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Democrats have grilled the attorney general on multiple topics, including the deployment of federal forces in Portland
Attorney General William Barr testifies in Congress
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Democrat says Barr's opening statement did not show "sympathy and understanding that Black lives matter"
From CNN's Ian Sloan
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
From CNN's Ian Sloan
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, had harsh words for Attorney General William Barr on Tuesday and continued to defend peaceful protests around the country in response to police brutality.
Lee told reporters outside the hearing room that “we cannot ignore the protesters desire to reimagine and cannot ignore that they have a factual basis for the disparities and treatment of people of color.”
The Texas Democrat pushed back on a video shared by GOP Rep. Jim Jordan during the hearing, which showed footage of riots and other scenes of violence across the country.
She said “no one on that committee attunes to violence, but Black lives matter, and what was not evidenced in the general's statement, his opening statement was his sympathy and understanding that Black lives matter...”
“What was not shown is the evidence of those protesters that succumbed to the violation of their civil liberties and violence, through unnamed federal officers dispatched by the Department of Justice attributable to no one,” Lee said of the Trump administration’s use of federal troops to quell protests.
Lee reiterated her stance that Barr and the Justice Department have “no concern for Black lives in the relationship of improving conditions with respect to the community and people of color, and particularly police misconduct.”
“The parents of Tamir Rice, the loved ones of Breonna Taylor, the loved ones of George Floyd, are all wondering if their government will stand for them,” Lee said. “Not against all security and safety, but against bad policing.”
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