US Attorney General Bill Barr testifies in Congress

Attorney General William Barr's opening statement before the House Judiciary Committee hit on a number of Justice Department-related issues, but a large portion was devoted to issues of race and policing.

In his opening remarks, Barr struck a tone that was decidedly defensive of law enforcement.

Barr called the killing of George Floyd "horrible" and said it "understandably jarred" the nation. Floyd's death at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer has sparked nationwide anti-racist protests and many calls to defund police departments.

However, Barr claimed "violent rioters" have "hijacked" peaceful protests.

Barr calls the far-left movement to defund the police "grossly irresponsible."

"The demonization of the police is not only unfair and inconsistent with principles of all people should be treated as individuals, but gravely injurious to the inner city communities," he said.

As part of his opening statement, top House Judiciary Republican Jim Jordan showed a lengthy video depicting protesters clashing with police officers.

Following the video, Committee Chair Jerry Nadler noted that Republicans did not give the committee the required 48-hour notice for video elements.

The lengthy video started with clips of television news reporters describing "peaceful protesters." It was followed by scenes of protesters and police clashing.

While numerous anti-racist protests broke out after the killing of George Floyd, it's not clear where or when the videos in the GOP montage were taken.

In his opening remarks, House Judiciary Chair Rep. Jerry Nadler said Attorney General William Barr has failed to uphold central missions of the agency, including being an impartial administrator of the law and enforcing civil rights laws.

"There is no precedent for the department of justice to actively seek out conflict with American citizens under such flimsy pretext or for such petty purposes," Nadler continued.

"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," Nadler said.

Leading up to today's hearing, Nadler has been investigating several of Barr's actions and had threatened to subpoena the attorney general before they agreed on Tuesday's appearance.

Last month, after Trump had Barr fire the US attorney in Manhattan who had been overseeing an investigation into the President's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, Nadler suggested that his committee might attempt to impeach Barr, though he also called pursuing it a "waste of time" and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has tamped down talk of impeachment.

"Barr's priorities are clear: Trump first, America second," Nadler said earlier this month. "There is one rule for the President and one rule for the rest of us. Barr is corrupting DOJ at all costs to protect the President and subvert the election."

Hear his remarks:

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Attorney General William Barr is appearing before House lawmakers in a long-awaited showdown between congressional Democrats and one of the President's most effective enforcers.

Tuesday's appearance on Capitol Hill is Barr's first before the House Judiciary Committee, where the panel's Democrats have accused Barr of a litany of offenses and raised the specter of impeachment. 

These are some key topics Democrats are expected to grill Barr on:

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Attorney General William Barr will testify soon before the House Judiciary Committee in a hearing titled "Oversight of the Department of Justice."

It will be the first time Barr appears before this Democratic-led panel. He is the hearing's only witness.

The committee's chair Rep. Jerry Nadler, a Democrat from New York, and the Republican ranking member Rep. Jim Jordan are expected to deliver opening remarks. After Barr's opening statement, committee members will have one round of 5-minute questioning.

Nadler was involved in a car accident this morning on his way down to Washington for today’s hearing and the panel was delayed. It was originally set to begin at 10:00 a.m. ET. Nadler, who was not driving, was not hurt in the accident, a spokesperson said.

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee have long been angling for Barr to appear before them after a no-show last year and previous dates this year were scuttled by the coronavirus pandemic.

With reporting from CNN's Jeremy Herb and David Shortell

Pool

Attorney General Bill Barr just arrived at the US Capitol ahead of his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee.

Barr was wearing a black face mask as he walked through the building.

The hearing is set to begin at 10:45 a.m. ET. The Democratic-led committee is expected to grill Barr on a number of episodes lawmakers say raise concerns about the agency's independence and point to an abuse of power.

Chip Somodevilla/Pool/AFP/Getty Images

The House Judiciary Committee's hearing with Attorney General Bill Barr is now scheduled to begin at 10:45 a.m. ET, a spokesperson said.

The hearing had originally been slated to begin at 10 a.m. ET, but was pushed back after House Judiciary Chair Jerry Nadler was involved in a car accident this morning.

Nadler, who was not driving, was not hurt in the accident, a spokesperson said.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Tuesday's appearance on Capitol Hill will be Attorney General William Barr's first before the House Judiciary Committee.

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee have long been angling for Barr to appear before them after a no-show last year and previous dates this year were scuttled by the coronavirus pandemic.

And his appearance comes as controversial episodes at the Justice Department have mounted, including Barr's personal intrusion into the prosecutions of two allies of President Trump, and his move last month to oust a prominent and powerful US attorney.

Barr has never appeared before the House Judiciary Committee — either while attorney general in the George H.W. Bush administration or since his February 2019 Senate confirmation.

He last appeared on Capitol Hill before the Senate Judiciary Committee in May 2019, when he defended his decision-making in the rollout of the special counsel report, which Democrats charge skewed Robert Mueller's findings.

More than one year removed, the Mueller saga will be just one topic for Tuesday's hearing, as Democrats move to probe a host of new scandals in the attorney general's orbit.

Attorney General William Barr accuses congressional Democrats of seeking to discredit him because of his investigation into the origins of the FBI's Russia probe, in a combative opening statement for Tuesday's hearing before the House Judiciary Committee.

In Barr's prepared remarks, which were provided to CNN by the Justice Department on Monday, the attorney general says he has acted independently of President Trump in the decisions he's made in several criminal cases he's handled.

Barr will also face questions on his role in the administration's crackdown on the protests across the country that followed George Floyd's killing in May, including the decision to forcibly disperse a peaceful demonstration at Lafayette Square in June and the dispatching of federal officers to Portland, Oregon, where rioters have clashed with authorities nightly outside a complex of federal buildings.

In his opening statement, Barr said the President "has not attempted to interfere" in the criminal decisions he's made, which would include lessening the sentencing recommendation for Trump's longtime friend Roger Stone and to move to dismiss charges against Trump's first national security adviser Michael Flynn.

"My decisions on criminal matters have been left to my independent judgment, based on the law and fact, without any direction or interference from the White House or anyone outside the Department," Barr will say.

The majority of Barr's statement, however, is devoted to issues of race and policing, striking a tone that is decidedly defensive of law enforcement.

Barr calls the killing of Floyd "horrible" and says it "understandably jarred the whole country and forced us to reflect on longstanding issues in our nation." He continues, however, by recounting the ways that policing in America has changed since "the Civil Rights movement finally succeeded in tearing down the Jim Crow edifice."

Read Barr's full opening statement here: