A highly critical report from the Justice Department watchdog largely exonerates former Attorney General William Barr of any responsibility for clearing protesters from Lafayette Park near the White House during racial justice protests in the summer of 2020.
Lafayette Park was cleared using smoke canisters and pepper balls ahead of a photo opportunity by former President Trump, who walked through the park to make a statement while holding a Bible in front of a church across from the White House.
O report of the DOJ Office of Inspector General condemns the Justice Department for its response to the protests, writing that it “created safety risks for officers and the public.”
The episode was part of what the watchdog described as a “chaotic and disorganized” effort in which Barr overstretched his department’s resources in an effort to flex law enforcement’s response following the 2020 killing of George Floyd by a police officer. Minneapolis.
Although Barr declined to be interviewed for the report, the OIG determined that Barr did not issue the order to clean up the park –contradicting media reportsfrom the moment thatthe former attorney general contested.
According to the OIG, “time-stamped [Metropolitan Police Department] radio communications, contemporary written communications, and witness statements” show that preparation to clear the park began before Barr’s arrival.
However, Barr’s influence was limited in part due to general confusion over the federal response to the protest, which was being led in practice by the US Park Police (USPP) and the US Secret Service (USSS).
“We determined that although then-President Trump had nominated Barr on June 1 to lead the federal response to the protests, USPP and USSS personnel in Lafayette Park were unaware of that decision. USPP and USSS personnel also told us that because Barr was not in their chain of command—they worked for the Department of the Interior and the Department of Homeland Security, respectively, and not the DOJ—his presence had no impact. at the time of the operation. ,” the OIG wrote.
Barr’s law firm did not respond to a request for comment.
The report went on to criticize a number of decisions made by Barr, finding that he quickly pushed for DOJ personnel’s involvement in compensation, paying little attention to agents, resulting in some showing up without proper equipment or any “guidance as to their mission or rules.” of engagement.”
“We found that the Department’s efforts were at times chaotic and disorganized, and that Barr, in an attempt to demonstrate that law enforcement could handle civil unrest without active military intervention, pressured the DOJ’s law enforcement components to mobilize personnel without sufficient attention to whether those personnel were properly trained or equipped for their mission. In several cases, DOJ law enforcement personnel were deployed with limited guidance to situations for which they were not trained or equipped,” the OIG wrote.
A Bureau of Prisons (BOP) supervisor said he “didn’t have his staff bring shields because they didn’t know they would help with crowd control. It wasn’t until they arrived at Lafayette Park that they learned their role, less than an hour before the start of the clearing operation.”
These same agents arrived without any identifying insignia, contributing to further unrest as a number of different law enforcement assets arrived on the scene.
The report concluded that the lack of identification was due to the fact that BP officers worked in a prison environment, writing that they were not prepared for the circumstances in which they would interact with the public.
Similarly, the report questioned the deployment of FBI agents to the area, concluding that “by sending armed agents to respond to civil unrest for which they did not have adequate training or equipment, [they] created safety and security risks for officers and the public.”
This article was updated at 12:11 p.m.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
