By Sarah N. Lynch
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former U.S. attorney general William Barr created security risks when it deployed federal law enforcement officers unprepared to respond to racial justice protests near the White House in 2020, according to a Justice Department analysis released Wednesday.
The report focused on the role Barr played in responding to protests in Washington following the police killing in Minneapolis of George Floyd, a black man whose death triggered a global wave of protests.
“We were concerned about decision-making by department leadership that required DOJ law enforcement officers and elite tactical units to perform missions for which they did not have the appropriate equipment and training,” the Justice Department inspector general wrote. , Michael Horowitz, in the report, which concluded that Barr’s leadership created a “chaotic and disorganized” response.
Sending armed officers to respond to civil unrest without adequate guidance “created security risks for officers and the public,” he added.
Barr declined to be interviewed for this story, the Justice Department said, and did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Police officers used tear gas and rubber bullets to clear racial justice protesters near the White House, before then-President Donald Trump emerged and walked to a nearby church, where he posed for a photograph holding a Bible.
Black Lives Matter protesters later sued the government, and the Justice Department settled four such lawsuits in 2022 with promises that law enforcement agencies would change their policies on how they respond to demonstrations.
The report found that Barr personally ordered tactical teams from the Bureau of Prisons to be sent to the scene, in what the report said was his “attempt to demonstrate that law enforcement could handle civil unrest without active-duty military intervention.”
The report criticized this decision, saying that prison officials received “no guidance regarding their mission or rules of operation”.
At the time of the incident, the Justice Department’s head of public affairs said Barr personally ordered authorities to take action on the protesters.
Thursday’s report disputed that claim, with Horowitz saying his team was unable to find evidence to support that claim.
Barr said in a statement to investigators that he believed the deployment of law enforcement personnel was “exceptionally well executed.”
He added that the employees he worked with understood the objective and that “none expressed to me any confusion about their duties or concerns about their ability to carry them out.”
(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Scott Malone and David Gregorio)
