Barr to come out swinging on violent crime, Russia probe in first House Judiciary Committee appearance

In his first-ever appearance before the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, Attorney General Bill Barr will condemn the "grave abuses" in the "bogus Russiagate scandal," while also highlighting Black-on-Black violence and defending law enforcement officers in no uncertain terms, according to a transcript of his prepared remarks obtained by Fox News on Monday night.
The attorney general's unusually aggressive posture will be matched by similarly full-throated arguments from GOP lawmakers on the panel, including ranking member Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, Fox News is told.
"Ever since I made it clear that I was going to do everything I could to get to the bottom of the grave abuses involved in the bogus Russiagate scandal, many of the Democrats on this committee have attempted to discredit me by conjuring up a narrative that I am simply the president’s factotum who disposes of criminal cases according to his instructions," Barr is expected to say at the outset of his remarks. "Judging from the letter inviting me to this hearing, that appears to be your agenda today."
Barr will go on to deny that Trump has improperly interfered with any of his decisions, before pointing to statistics showing progress on racial-justice issues, according to his prepared remarks.
"Police forces today are far more diverse than ever before; there are both more Black police chiefs and more Black officers in the ranks," Barr is expected to say. "Although the death of George Floyd – an unarmed Black man – at the hands of the police was a shocking event, the fact is that such events are fortunately quite rare. According to statistics compiled by the Washington Post, the number of unarmed Black men killed by police so far this year is eight. The number of unarmed White men killed by police over the same time period is 11. Some unarmed suspects, moreover, were physically attacking officers or threatening others at the time they were shot. And, the overall number of police shootings has been decreasing."
At the same time, the attorney general is expected to say, Black Americans too often kill each other. "The threat to Black lives posed by crime on the streets is massively greater than any threat posed by police misconduct," Barr's remarks read. "The leading cause of death for young Black males is homicide. Every year approximately 7,500 Black Americans are victims of homicide, and the vast majority of them – around 90 percent – are killed by other Blacks, mainly by gunfire. Each of those lives matter."
A Democratic counsel to the committee told Fox News that there will be roughly four-and-a-half to five hours of questioning, covering topics from civil rights to his alleged deference to the White House. Barr's appearance is voluntary and not responsive to any subpoena, and Fox News is told executive privilege has not been exerted at this time to shield any topics or discussions – although that could change during the hearing.
For Barr, the remarks will be an opportunity to reinforce his image as a lawman's lawman. Just before Christmas, he visited New York's One Police Plaza to meet with New York Police Department brass after a series of suicides among New York police officers. Later that night, he hosted a thank-you dinner for hundreds of officers. The NYPD sent two officers from each precinct, along with some chiefs, the NYPD's commissioner and his chief deputy.
Now more than perhaps any other time in modern history, law enforcement has been under sustained assault, as documented by videos and body camera footage from federal and local officers. An article by The Associated Press on Sunday documented the harrowing scene inside a Portland federal courthouse, where rioters have been gathering nightly to fire explosives at the building. Rioters also have fired lasers into officers' eyes, leading to apparently permanent eye damage – and none of it, Barr is expected to say, had anything to do with George Floyd.
"Every night for the past two months, a mob of hundreds of rioters has laid siege to the federal courthouse and other nearby federal property," Barr will say, according to the prepared remarks. "The rioters arrive equipped for a fight, armed with powerful slingshots, tasers, sledgehammers, saws, knives, rifles, and explosive devices. Inside the courthouse are a relatively small number of federal law enforcement personnel charged with a defensive mission: to protect the courthouse, home to Article III federal judges, from being overrun and destroyed."
Barr is expected to add: "What unfolds nightly around the courthouse cannot reasonably be called a protest; it is, by any objective measure, an assault on the government of the United States. In recent nights, rioters have barricaded the front door of the courthouse, pried plywood off the windows with crowbars, and thrown commercial-grade fireworks into the building in an apparent attempt to burn it down with federal personnel inside."
Rioters, Barr will say, have "started fires outside the building, and then systematically attacked federal law enforcement officers who attempt to put them out—for example, by pelting the officers with rocks, frozen water bottles, cans of food, and balloons filled with fecal matter. A recent video showed a mob enthusiastically beating a deputy U.S. marshal who was trying to protect the courthouse – a property of the United States government funded by this Congress – from further destruction. A number of federal officers have been injured, including one severely burned by a mortar-style firework and three who have suffered serious eye injuries and may be permanently blind. Largely absent from these scenes of destruction are even superficial attempts by the rioters to connect their actions to George Floyd's death or any legitimate call for reform."

A federal officer firing crowd-control munitions outside the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse last week in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

Democrats, meanwhile, are expected to criticize Barr for seeking leniency in the sentencing of Trump ally Roger Stone — his idea alone, he insisted, and a “righteous decision based on the merits.” The move promoted angry dissent in the Justice Department and the swift resignation of a well-regarded prosecutor, and though the judge did impose a sentence shorter than what the trial team had sought, Trump commuted the sentence anyway.
Barr also moved to dismiss the prosecution of former Trump administration national security adviser Michael Flynn, a request the Justice Department expected would be simple but that instead has produced a pitched fight before a federal appeals court. Barr dropped the Flynn case only after a mountain of striking exculpatory evidence had emerged – including a handwritten note from a top FBI official debating whether the bureau's objective was to "get [Flynn] fired."
And, Barr tried to fire the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, but that didn't go precisely as planned when U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman refused to step aside, leaving Berman's deputy in his place instead of the prosecutor Barr had selected to replace him.
Despite the criticism, acquaintances have insisted that Barr was just being Barr – that he was motivated not by ambition or anything other than the opportunity to put his heartfelt beliefs into practice.
"He doesn't have anything to prove from a professional or career standpoint," said his longtime colleague and friend, attorney Chuck Cooper. "He's been at the apex of the legal profession for a long time. And so, in that respect, he's unlike any other attorney general. He's already ascended to that pinnacle once before."
Fox News' Jake Gibson, Brooke Singman and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Townhall Cartoons July 27 2020

White House, Senate GOP try again on $1 trillion virus aid

WASHINGTON (AP) — Suggesting a narrower pandemic relief package may be all that’s possible, the White House still pushed ahead with Monday’s planned rollout of the Senate Republicans’ $1 trillion effort as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi assailed the GOP “disarray” as time-wasting during the crisis.

The administration’s chief negotiators — White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin — spent the weekend on Capitol Hill to put what Meadows described as “final touches” on the relief bill Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is expected to bring forward Monday afternoon.

“We’re done,” Mnuchin said as he and Meadows left Capitol Hill on Sunday after meeting with GOP staff.

But looming deadlines may force them to consider other options. By Friday, millions of out-of-work Americans will lose an $600 federal unemployment benefit that is expiring and federal eviction protections for many renters are also coming to an end. President Donald Trump’s standing is at one of the lowest points of his term, according to a new AP-NORC poll.

“They’re in disarray and that delay is causing suffering for America’s families,” Pelosi said.

Pelosi panned the Trump administration’s desire to trim the $600 weekly unemployment boost to about 70% of pre-pandemic wages. She also said she opposes tackling a relief package in piecemeal fashion.

With the virus death toll climbing and 4.2 million infections nationwide, the administration officials converged on the Capitol to revive the Republican package that unraveled last week. Republican senators and the White House are at odds over various items, including how to cutback the jobless benefit without fully doing away with it.

Meadows said as the White House was “looking for clarity” on a “handful” of remaining issues with Republicans, but they had yet to talk to McConnell. “We have an agreement in principle,” he said.

Both Mnuchin and Meadows said earlier Sunday that narrower legislation might need to be passed first to ensure that enhanced unemployment benefits don’t run out for millions of Americans. They cited unemployment benefits, money to help schools reopen, tax credits to keep people from losing their jobs, and lawsuit protections for schools and businesses as priorities.

“We can move very quickly with the Democrats on these issues,” Mnuchin said.

But negotiations with Democrats have yet to begin with billions at stake and deadlines near.

Separately, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said a federal eviction moratorium on millions of rental units, due to expire at the end of the month, will be extended. “We will lengthen it,” he said, without specifying for how long.

On the jobless benefits, Republicans have argued that federal jobless benefits should be trimmed because the combination of state and federal unemployment assistance left many people better off financially than they were before the pandemic and therefore disinclined to return to their jobs.

Many Democrats contend that a lot of people don’t feel safe going back to work when the coronavirus is surging again around the country.

Meadows, a former congressman who was the head of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, said he is working with Mnuchin and Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia to address complaints that outdated state computer systems will make it difficult for the jobless to get their benefits in a timely fashion if the formula is changed.

“It’s our goal to make sure that it’s not antiquated computers that keep people from getting their benefits,” Meadows said.

Pelosi criticized the hold-up on the GOP side. House Democrats passed a $3 trillion relief package a couple of months ago, with the aim of jump-starting negotiations.

The White House and Senate Republicans were racing to regroup after plans to introduce a $1 trillion virus rescue bill collapsed Thursday during GOP infighting over its size, scope and details.

It was expected to bring $105 billion to help schools reopen, new money for virus testing and benefits for businesses, including a fresh round of loans, tax breaks and a sweeping liability shield from COVID-19-related lawsuits.

The expiration of the $600 weekly jobless benefits boost had been propelling the Republicans to act, bracing to prevent social and economic fallout.

The White House floated plans to cut the additional aid back to $100 a week, while Senate Republicans preferred $200, with general GOP agreement about phasing out the flat boost in favor of one that ensures no more than 70% of an employee’s previous pay.

Apart from jobless benefits, Mnuchin said Saturday that new $1,200 direct payments would be based on the same formula from the earlier aid bill. Then, people making $75,000 or less received the full amount and those making more than $75,000 received less, depending on their income. People earning above $100,000 did not qualify for the payment.

The jobless benefit officially expires July 31, but due to the way states process unemployment payments, the cutoff was effectively Saturday.

___

Meadows spoke on ABC’s “This Week,” Mnuchin was on “Fox News Sunday,” Pelosi appeared on CBS’ “Face the Nation” and Kudlow was interviewed on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

___

Superville reported from Bridgewater, New Jersey. Associated Press writer Hope Yen in Washington contributed to this report.

Murder of Bernell Trammell spurs call for federal investigation

The shooting death of a black Trump supporter in Milwaukee has state Republicans calling for a federal investigation.
Bernell Trammell, 60, a dreadlocked activist known for carrying handmade signs through the streets reading “Vote Donald Trump 2020,” and posting them on his storefront, was gunned down by an unknown assailant on his sidewalk Thursday afternoon, police said.
“Because of Trammell’s well-known political activism and the possibility that his murder could be politically motivated, I respectfully request that United States Attorney Matthew Krueger open an investigation,” said Andrew Hitt, chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, late Friday.

Bernell Trammell was a familiar figure in Milwaukee’s Riverwest neighborhood

“No American should fear for their personal safety because of where they live or their political affiliation,” Hitt added.
Krueger’s spokesman, Kenneth Gales, said he could not comment on Hitt’s request.
Trammell was a familiar figure in Milwaukee’s Riverwest neighborhood, frequently pedaling a bicycle or walking the streets with signs proclaiming his eclectic religious or political thoughts.
“He had a lot of different views,” local writer Adebisi Agoro told The Post. “But it was his last view that made people be outrageous with him.”
The pro-Trump signage was stirring up angry posts on neighborhood Facebook pages, Agoro said. On Monday, a man followed Trammell around town holding a sign reading “Sike” — local slang for “not!” or “as if” — to counter it.
Trammell “didn’t have internet, he didn’t have a phone, he didn’t have a dime to his name,” Agoro said. “But he got his message out.”
A new GOP outreach office – opened this year to try to make inroads into the African-American electorate – is just blocks from the building where Trammell lived and was killed, Hitt said.
“This is personal,” he told The Post.

Stanley Kurtz sheds light on Trump's latest 'tremendous accomplishment,' and why media largely overlooked it

Stanley Kurtz, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, spoke to Fox News about what he called a "tremendous accomplishment" of the Trump administration, one that the mainstream media apparently failed to notice.
In an interview on "Life Liberty & Levin" that aired Sunday, Kurtz shed light on the "Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule," (AFFH) a law added by former President Barack Obama to the 1968 Fair Housing Act, which the conservative scholar said has aimed to expand federal influence over suburbia.
On Thursday, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Dr. Ben Carson announced he's stripping Obama's AFFH Rule from the Fair Housing Act, saying the rule "was an overreach of unelected Washington bureaucrats into local communities" -- a point that Kurtz echoed.
"Very recently, President Trump, with the help of Secretary Carson, have in a very powerful and effective way put an end to AFFH as it was created under the Obama-Biden administration," Kurtz explained.
"This is really a tremendous accomplishment," he added. "People say that the federal government often is under a ratchet effect, meaning it only gets bigger. Or, maybe if a Republican gets in, it stays about the same, but it never actually shrinks."
In this case, Kurtz said, "President Trump, with the help of Secretary Carson, have actually countered the ratchet effect."
Kurtz went on, "Not only have they peeled back virtually the entirety of the Obama-Biden AFFH rule, this radical overreaching rule, but they've even peeled back some layers that had accumulated over the original law, which weren't really about what was in the law even before" the Obama administration began.
Kurtz called the move a "brilliant stroke on the part of the Trump administration, and a "courageous action" that illustrated a "radical dichotomy between what Biden is going to offer the suburbs, which is AFFH turbocharged... and President Trump," who essentially told the suburbs, "I'm not going to mess with your fundamental freedoms."
"Joe Biden is," he asserted, "And there's going to be choice like night and day."
Levin observed that the latest reversal by the Trump administration garnered little media coverage, and accused the left-leaning media of sweeping it under the rug to protect "Biden and its agenda and the Democrat Party.
"They know what he has in mind when it comes to the suburbs. They know what Obama started," Levin said, "and they also know that he needs the suburbs to win again."
Fox News' Charles Creitz contributed to this report.

Sen. Tom Cotton tries to clarify slavery comment, calls out ‘fake news’

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., took to Twitter Sunday to call out what he identified as “fake news” after criticism after a newspaper interview where he spoke about the founding fathers and how they considered slavery a “necessary evil.”
Cotton was interviewed in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and spoke about a bill that he sponsored that seeks to deny federal funds to schools that incorporate the New York Times’ controversial ‘1619 Project’ into its teaching curriculum.
Cotton told the paper, “We have to study the history of slavery and its role and impact on the development of our country because otherwise we can’t understand our country. As the Founding Fathers said, it was the necessary evil upon which the union was built, but the union was built in a way, as Lincoln said, to put slavery on the course to its ultimate extinction.”
The quote was picked up by critics on social media who called out the senator for what they said appeared to a justification for slavery.
Cotton later took to Twitter in an attempt to clarify his remarks. He responded to Teagan Goddard, the publisher of Political Wire, who tweeted, “Cotton Says Slavery Was ‘Necessary Evil.”
Cotton called the tweet the “definition of fake news.”
“I said that *the Founders viewed slavery as a necessary evil* and described how they put the evil institution on the path to extinction, a point frequently made by Lincoln,” Cotton tweeted.
He also responded to Nikole Hannah-Jones, the New York Times correspondent who won the Pulitzer Prize for her essay in The 1619 Project, who wrote, “If chattel slavery—heritable, generational, permanent, race-based slavery where it was legal to rape, torture, and sell human beings for profit—were a “necessary evil” as @TomCottonAR says, it’s hard to imagine what cannot be justified if it is a means to an end.”
Cotton responded to her that “describing the *views of the Founders*” is not an endorsement or an attempt at justification. He continued, “No surprise that the 1619 Project can’t get facts right.”
Multiple historians have criticized the series of articles for multiple inaccuracies, including the argument that the American Revolution was fought not to achieve independence from Britain, but to preserve the institution of slavery.
In an earlier statement, Cotton called the project “a racially divisive, revisionist account of history that denies the noble principles of freedom and equality on which our nation was founded.”
“Not a single cent of federal funding should go to indoctrinate young Americans with this left-wing garbage,” he said.
Fox News' Bradford Betz contributed to this report

Stupid Oregon Cartoons

Ben Shapiro: Left's 'Blame the system' narrative aimed at erasing US history, culture

Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro weighed in Saturday on the violence and lawlessness in major American cities and criticized Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, saying he's ran his campaign like a "dead person."
"I think what the Left has done is, they've set up a narrative whereby they can blame anything chaotic on the system itself. And that's what you've seen them doing," Shapiro said on "Watters' World." "They're trying to blame federal law enforcement for actually just enforcing the law."

"They're trying to blame federal law enforcement for actually just enforcing the law."
— Ben Shapiro

The host of "The Ben Shapiro Show" also accused liberals of trying to erase America's culture.
"Look, no nation can survive if it does not share a philosophy, a history and a culture. And what you are seeing from so many of the rioters and looters -- and by the way, their fans and the mainstream media -- is that that's exactly what they want to do," Shapiro said. "They want to get rid of the philosophy, history and culture of the United States. It's making the country a significantly worse place every single day."
Shapiro put forth that Americans would react angrily once Biden picks a running mate.
"Joe Biden has so far run a campaign of basically being a dead person who doesn't say controversial things," Shapiro said. "If he selects a vice president who is more controversial than he is -- and if President Trump is able to point out that Biden is at best a transitional figure to that vice president and probably ends up enacting a lot of the radical priorities -- then Trump actually has an election campaign to win."

"Joe Biden has so far run a campaign of basically being a dead person who doesn't say controversial things."
— Ben Shapiro

Shapiro gave Biden credit for keeping both ends of the political spectrum where he needs them.
"He's smart enough to mouth the platitudes he knows most Americans like," Shapiro said. "Even though he has emboldened the radical left wing of his base, he's counting on the fact that most people are sort of comfortable with him to get him through a period where he is more and more embracing the radical left."

Mnuchin: Virus aid package soon, $1,200 checks by August

 

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin speaks with reporters about the coronavirus relief package negotiations, at the White House, Thursday, July 23, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Saturday that Republicans were set to roll out the next COVID-19 aid package Monday and assured there was backing from the White House after he and President Donald Trump’s top aide met to salvage the $1 trillion proposal that had floundered just days before.

Mnuchin told reporters at the Capitol that extending an expiring unemployment benefit — but reducing it substantially — was a top priority for Trump. The secretary called the $600 weekly aid “ridiculous” and a disincentive for people to go back to work. He also promised a fresh round of $1,200 stimulus checks would be coming in August.

“We’re prepared to move quickly,” Mnuchin said after he and Mark Meadows, the president’s acting chief of staff, spent several hours with GOP staff at the Capitol. He said the president would “absolutely” support the emerging Republican package.

Mnuchin’s optimistic assessment came before Democrats weighed in publicly on the updated proposal, which remained only a starting point in negotiations with House and Senate leaders in the other party. He said he recently called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer ahead of shuttle negotiations next week on the broader deal.

The White House and Senate Republicans were racing to regroup after plans to introduce a $1 trillion virus rescue bill collapsed Thursday amid GOP infighting over its size, scope and details. It was expected to bring $105 billion to help schools reopen, new money for virus testing and benefits for businesses, including a fresh round of loans, tax breaks and a sweeping liability shield from COVID-related lawsuits.

As Republicans struggled, the White House team downplayed the differences with the GOP senators as overblown and said Trump was focused on providing relief.

“The president has been very clear. He wants to make sure that the American people have what they need during this unprecedented time,” Meadows said, “to make sure not only the money is there but the programs.”

The expiration of the $600 weekly jobless benefits boost had been propelling the Republicans to act. Democrats already approved their sweeping $3 trillion plan from Pelosi two months ago. But with millions of Americans about to be suddenly cut off from the aid starting Saturday, they were bracing to prevent social and economic fallout.

The White House floated plans to cut the additional aid back to $100 a week, while Senate Republicans preferred $200, with general agreement about phasing out the flat boost in favor of one that ensures no more than 70% of an employee’s previous pay.

Mnuchin also said the $1,200 direct payments would be based on the same formula from the earlier aid bill. Individuals making $75,000 or less, for example, received the full amount and those making more than $75,000 received less than $1,200 depending on their income. Individuals earning above $100,000 did not qualify for the payment.

“We’ll get the majority of them out in August and those will help people,” Mnuchin said.

The administration officials said the overall package remained at $1 trillion, apparently on par with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s original draft.

Democrats had warned time was running out, saying Republicans were in disarray.

The jobless benefit officially expires July 31, but due to the way states process unemployment payments, the cutoff was effectively Saturday. Other aid, including a federal eviction moratorium on millions of rental units, also expires at month’s end.

The GOP plan was not expected to come to a vote but serve as a counter-offer to Democrats. That strategy enabled McConnell, who did not have full support from his GOP majority, to avoid having to endure a failed outcome. But it also gave Democrats some leverage in insisting on their priorities as part of any final deal.

The path ahead remained uncertain, but both sides were scrambling to reach a deal.

McConnell, who spent time over the weekend in his home state of the Kentucky, said Friday he hoped a package could be agreed on “in the next few weeks.”

Police: Man fatally shot at protest in Texas

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A man was fatally shot at a protest in Texas when he approached a vehicle and the driver inside opened fire, police said.

The shooting happened just before 10 p.m. during a protest in Austin, police spokesperson Katrina Ratliff told reporters early Sunday. The man was taken to a hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

The vehicle had honked, turned down a road and then sped toward protesters, witness Michael Capochiano told the Austin American-Statesman. The man, who Capochiano said was carrying a rifle, approached the vehicle and was shot by the driver. The driver then drove away, Capochiano said.

Initial reports indicated “the victim may have been carrying a rifle,” Ratliff told reporters, adding that the suspect was detained and was cooperating with police.

The crowd gathered Saturday for a Black Lives Matter protest, news outlets reported. The demonstration was streamed live on Facebook and captured audio of a vehicle’s horn honking and several gunshots being fired.