Official Daily Action for Sunday June 21, 2020
Recently, more than 1,250 former employees of the Department of Justice sent an open letter requesting that DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz open an investigation into Attorney General William Barr’s “role in ordering” US military police forces to violently suppress a peaceful protest in front of the White House on June 1.
The White House claimed that the Attorney General gave the order to clear the square where protesters were assembled only after protesters “attacked” the arrayed federal forces with a barrage of thrown objects. Barr has not really explained his role, and now claims that he did not give the command to clear the square. However, video footage assembled by the Washington Post suggests that:
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Barr was, indeed, present at the scene and actively communicating with military forces some minutes before they attacked protesters.
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The move to clear protesters from the square appeared to be completely pre-planned, timed to facilitate the president walking across the square to pose for a short photo op in front of St. John’s church.
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No “attack” by protesters occurred. (The videos show only person among the protesters throwing something.)
Barr’s possible role in using military might to suppress peaceful protesters is deeply troubling on multiple levels. First, he has no clear constitutional authority to command federal law officers. The decision to use federal forces to break up a peaceful assembly likely violated the First and Fourth Amendment rights of protesters, and did so, not for public safety, but for patently political reasons. Finally, someone ordered the assembled forces to hide their individual and agency identification, making it nearly impossible to hold a bad actor accountable for illegal conduct. This is a tactic employed by secret police in authoritarian countries.
ACTION: Call on lawmakers to speak out against these actions and hold Barr accountable.
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Rep. Pramila Jayapal: https://jayapal.house.gov/contact/
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Rep. Adam Smith: https://adamsmith.house.gov/contact
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Sen. Patty Murray: https://www.murray.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contactme
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Sen. Maria Cantwell: https://www.cantwell.senate.gov/contact/email/form
Sample Script Ideas
My name is [NAME] and I live in [CITY, ZIP CODE]. I am deeply concerned that the highest law enforcement official in the land, Attorney General Bill Barr, appears to have endorsed, if not outright ordered, militarized federal police in full riot gear to break up a peaceful demonstration in front of the White House. This action was taken just so the president could stroll across Lafayette Square to have a photo op. Moreover, someone ensured that these riot police showed no visible agency or personal identification, rendering them completely unaccountable for their actions. Was this also Barr’s handwork? Please speak out forcefully against the Attorney General’s apparent complicity in undermining the constitutional right to peaceful assembly. Please call for a formal investigation into his role in this matter. Thank you.
