dean: in lafayette square, peaceful protesters gathered over days and hours to discuss civil rights and the heinous murder of george floyd call for equality and justice. when asked about the use of force displayed in the video against the protesters in lafayette square you stated that your attitude was get it done. let's look at what you got done. if you take a look at the timeline we compiled, we can see that you were spotted in lafayette square that monday evening. the president was scheduled to speak in the rose garden at 6:15. the park police began to disperse protesters at roughly 6:33. president trump started his speech at 6:43 and finished at 6:50. by 7:01, when the president was ready to take a photo in front of st. john's church, the square was cleared and ready for him to go. am i correct? a.g. barr: yes. rep. dean: the timing is clear. multiple local officials also confirmed the point of clearing the square. one safety official said that it plan to movepolice the perimeter had been "hurried up" when the president needed to walk to church and just today we heard testimony from

the same afternoon overwhelmingly peaceful protesters gathered at lafayette square park at lafayette square park, national guard, law enforcement lined the perimeter of the park. around 6:30, nearly half an hour before dc curfew, the park police and law enforcement partner moved in on the protesters, peaceful protesters and innocent bystanders and members of the press were caught in a chaotic barrage of shields and teargas. the militarized assault, you hit people from historic st. john's church. clergy and church staff, pushed off their own patio by officers and the battle space and even more incredible. donald trump accompanied by the attorney general and white house advisors, the top military brass flowed through the park where he posed with a bible for a brief photo op at st. john's, no idea the president was going to do this. peaceful protesters, church and press look to this administration's violent and senseless operation. to embody our three main treaties protected by the first amendment, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion and freedom of the press. scr

around lafayette square. absolutely nothing to do with giving the president his photo opportunity at the church. based on what you witnessed but you know about that day, your testimony. is this statatisfactory? >> sir, respectfully, i'm not here to hypothesize. i'm just a fact based witness. can't talk about the kcausation or correlation. >> you testify ied that no national guards men had lethal or non lethal munitions at lafayette square. are you aware of any munitions being ready for use by the national guard? >> on the evening of june 1st, the only munitions that i'm aware of is the transfer of weapons from ft. belvoir up to the d.c. armory and that was my unit. >> okay, and what kind of -- >> they were m4 carbons, sir. >> and that's an assault rifle. >> it's of the assault rifle variation. >> and do you know what the reposition was in preparation for? >> i don't know what it was in preparation for. i just know my soldiers executed that movement. >> okay. thank you. the issue that we're confronts across th

dean: in lafayette square, peaceful protesters gathered over days and hours to discuss civil rights and the heinous murder of george floyd call for equality and justice. when asked about the use of force displayed in the video against the protesters in lafayette square you stated that your attitude was to get it done . let's look at what you got done. if you take a look at the timeline we compiled, we can see that you were spotted there at 10 p.m. that monday evening. the president was scheduled to speak in the rose garden at 6:15. the park police began to disperse protesters at roughly 6:33. president trump started his speech at 6:43 and finished by 650 -- 6:50. when the president was ready to take a photo in front of st. john's church, the square was cleared and ready for him to go. am i correct? yes.- mr. barr: rep. dean: the timing is clear. one safety official said that it was as if the plan from the park police to move the perimeter had been "hurried up" when the president needed to walk to church and just today we heard testimony from a national guard officer deployed at lafayett

they did not want to talk about lafayette square. that was very, very clear, lafayette park, and bill barr did everything he could to try to distract us. but we were not going to be distracted. >> i want to ask you about mail-in voting. you have unique familiarity with this given where you are from. bill barr was asked about this today and he continued to parrot the administration's view that mail-in voting is not secure. let's just listen. [ inaudible ] >> all right. you know what? i don't have the sound there. but the congressman, mr. richmond, was saying do you believe as the attorney general of the united states that mail-in voting will lead to massive voter fraud? the attorney general responds, i think there's a high risk that it will. he went on about that. tell me how you respond to this because you know mail-in voting better than many americans do. >> yes. i come from the state of washingt washington. we're one of those states that has had mail-in voting for almost the longest in the history of, you know, other states. i thin

national guard officers says police moved on lafayette square protestors. used excessive force before the president's visit. an officer is contradicting claims by the attorney general and the trump administration that they did not speed up the clearing to make way for the president's photo opportunity minutes later. a new statement by adam demarco who now serves as a major in the d.c. national guard also casts doubt on the claims by acting police chief gregory monahan that violence by protestors spurred park police to clear the area at that time with aggressive tactics. he said that demonstrators were behaving peacefully and the tear gas deployed was excessive use of force. they believe the clearing operation would happen after 7:00 p.m. curfew, but it was accelerated after attorney general william barr and others appeared in the park around 6:00 p.m. the park police chief says that the operation was conducted so that a fence might be erected around the park. demarco said the fencing materials did not arrive after 9:00 p.m. and the fence wasn't built until

do you believe that william barr lied to you under oath about what happened in lafayette park? >> he not only lied. he doubled back. he did a backflip. i quoted him where he said it was not chemical, that the pepper balls used against peaceful protesters. this was a peaceful protest. if there was any kind of rioting, of course this is not the way you would deal with rioting. this was peaceful protests. that's what everybody has said. the attorney general said it was not chemical. no, it was chemical. he did a double back flip. he used pepper ball agents against peaceful protesters. and what i showed him was that the beauty of pepper balls is not only the chemical irritant but the blunt force trauma. that's what he directed when he stood in that square at 6:10 and said get it done. and there's no coincidence between the president finishing a law and order statement in the rose garden and walking across. what i compare him to, the attorney general worked as an advance man on the campaign. can you imagine the secret service would have thought there's some disturbance in lafayette

john's episcopal church near lafayette square. secret service and park police appropriate use of safe, restorative force actually cleared that up. in total, however, 15 u.s. park police officers were injured during the weekend leading up to the perimeter expansion. do you want to expand on the actions at lafayette park? >> for the 29th, 30th, and 31st, there was unprecedented rioting right around the white house. very violent. during that time, as you say, about 50 park police -- and a comparable number, is my election, of secret service. we had around 90 officers injured. i'm talking about things like concussions, one was operated on, and so forth. it was so bad that it's been reported the secret service recommended the president go down to the shelter. we had a breach of the treasury department, the historical building on lafayette park was burned down. the lodge. st. john's was set on fire. bricks were thrown at the police repeatedly, they took crowbars and pried up the pavers at lafayette park and through those at the police.

john's lafayette square. it was my ministry that brought me to lafayette square. in the afternoon of june 1st. the day before during my sermon, i looked directly into the camera my laptop because that house how i was speaking a date. and he called the church, the church as a whole to account for the lack of courage and leadership in dismantling systemic racism. and when christians celebrate the gift of the holy spirit and i that literally for centuries, the church has squandered this mighty gift. does not have the courage to stand up and cast out that evil of systemic and institutional racism. her civic body in the name of love. racial justice, in scripture is his rooted, is now critical ministry of the episcopal church. and it was that ministry at the invitation of my mission. my colleagues, lafayette square. the money i was there on behalf of the church to provide comfort and support to the peaceful protesters and a standard in solidarity with them and the cause of racial justice. i was there in support of people who were testing the governments use and brutalit

>>a major adam dimarco of the dc national guard says he still can't believe what he saw in lafayette park on june 1st it was my observation that the use of force against demonstrators in the clearing operation was an unnecessary escalation, but acting chief of the u.s. park police gregory monahan said violent protesters forced his agency to act 50 u us park police officers were injured between may 29th and june 1st california democratic representative tj cox said tuesday's hearing was about more than just a violent end to a single protest is whether or that the park place yourself really have a duty and obligation of fealty to the constitution but republicans like arkansas representative bruce westerman called the hearing a political show i wish that. >>congress could work. renewing hope in america rather than continuing to drag issues like this through the mud lawmakers also wanted to know the park was cleared out specifically so president trump can walk through the area. >>to get to a photo op at a nearby church. there is 100% 0 okay relation between our operation and the president

president trump got in trouble for one incident in lafayette park where he tear gassed peaceful protesters for a photo op. well, every night in portland he's tear gassing peaceful protesters for a photo op. >> lawrence, help me understand that. i will be talking to a number of senator who is put forward legislation to prevent federal troops from going in. i certainly do not understand the constitution the way you do. but it does actually -- our first amendment does give us a right to protest. the president is criminalizing protesting in general rather than arresting people who set fires to things and threaten public buildings. >> you're clearly right. and in fact just listening to nick reminds all of us that the destruction of america is underway in the hands of this tyrannical president. there is no ill legality except occasional minor offenses that the police of oregon can take care of themselves. and the homeland security acting director chad wolf and the attorney general are deploying paramilitaries on the streets of america sweeping up lawful protesters, targeting the press, essential

here's what he said about the june 1st protest at lafayette square. he said that demonstrators were behaving peacefully and that tear gas was deployed in an excessive use of force. and i guess the point of this body of reporting and this important new development from carol leonnig is that this is a playbook revealed, right? >> well, i think the big question for most voters, nicole, is whether or not donald trump is bringing federal troops to actually try to quell violence or if he's using it as a political weapon. and that kind of reporting just suggest that it's being used for politics. and i think the big question that most people have when they look at portland or other areas, where there's some conflicts and protests is the question of whether or not bringing in federal law enforcement is making the situation better. it's really just throwing gasoline on a fire. just making the problem worse. >> cornell, my last question goes to you. and it's almost like the opening of a bad joke. how bad is donald trump? he's so bad that the ronald reagan founda

i'm ken wayne and i'm palmore that fire is burning right next to lafayette park kron four's justine waltman in the newsroom tonight with the latest just a plus san francisco fire just upgraded this to a 3 alarm fire and it's burning on washington street which is you mentioned is right near lafayette park. >>and the fire so big we actually were smelling the smoke here in our newsroom or on the embarcadero about 2 miles away from where this fire is burning right now, san francisco fire saying the flames are coming from a garage and i want to show you what crews are dealing with right now this is video just in to the kron 4 news room that a viewer posted on twitter you can see huge amounts of black smoke filling the sky and kron four's taylor sackey also nearby in the area and she shared this video on twitter as well we can see flames coming from behind those 2 victorian buildings and firefighters there on the stairs trying to lift that hose going into the back of the building actually gets stuck to sort of on the tire of the car that's parked there. the firefighter than us to go lifted up. th

this is a block and a half north of lafayette park. if you go to i and a right and go have a block up that is what we are looking at and there is still a large contingent of law enforcement officers and officials just along h street if you follow the alphabet, they are there right along the park and as you see the famous st. john's episcopal church, right now we know that auto traffic is being impeded by protesters. as we get more details i will pass them along. shannon: you were down there is the church was set ablaze by protesters. the fourth of july weekend in atlanta was violent and deadly, 31 people shot, five killed including an 8-year-old girl. brian kemp declaring a state of emergency in deploying the national guard to the state capital saying peaceful protests were hijacked by criminals with a dangerous destructive agenda. lawlessness must be stopped and order restored in our capital city. numerous of these facing explosion of crime. we discuss with police commissioner bernard carried and us attorney and fox news contributor a

guard. >> just specific to lafayette square? gen. milley: cell phone or coal co-located face-to-face. one guy would have the radio for his agency. >> the national guard, when we were commuting with the national guard, that was done over radio? gen. milley: it was a combination. >> can we figure that out also? gen. milley: yes. especially if there was any communication over radio through the national guard, that the national guard used, i assume we have a transcript of the conversations that were happening? gen. milley: that i am not so sure. >> could you check on that also? >> if it is a military communication, i doubt there is a transcript. if it is a radio. i may be wrong but i doubt it. gen. milley: can you check to see if there are recordings specific to the date of june 1 or any other recordings? >> the police force would normally do that, but we can find out. >> i yield back. >> i do have one follow-up question. do either of you know who specifically gave the order to clear the protesters out of lafayette square ahead of the pr

none of them had weapons downtown or at lafayette square. they are trained on all of that stuff and they are the military force that we would first call for civil unrest national guard military police. esper, i want to .sk you about the 1033 program it gets a lot of attention with the equipment that is used by the military that would be available to civilian law enforcement. does that militarize the police force? the questions always surround the central point of, do civilian forces needed that and what connection is there to the military requesting that equipment? the determination as to whether or not it is apple for that to be sent to the civilian police force? can you tell us what happens with the tender to three program and does that include the big equipment or is it things like protective equipment like vests and those sorts of things? sec. esper: it is a congressional program. it is not something i have studied in much detail and i don't think i could speak to what law enforcement deems as requirements. i spoke with a general about i

>> on lafayette. smacked the gentleman time is expired. >> could i ask for brief recess? >> and share with the witness would like to recess. >> mr. bar. ten minutes? >> nus?five. >> okay. the committee will stand in recess for five minutes. so coming up tonight on cspan2 , next to joe biden delivers remarks on his field back better plan to advance racial equity in america's economy than acting u.s. park police chief gregory monahan testifies on the agency's role in clearing protesters in lafayette square back in june for presidential photo up at st. john's church nearby. after that reaction to the 1 trillion-dollar senate republican coronavirus response plan from senate majority leader mitch mcconnell : : : >>

about the protests and saying that at no time referring specifically to that big protests we saw in lafayette park in washington d.c. that chemical agents won't use rubber bullets when used and yet that was the whole focus of that day the fact that so much force was used against citizens. that's right and what he's saying here is not the fact that those agents were used the rather by who and you just heard the defense secretary making it clear that the national guard troops who were present during that alter cation with protesters the defense secretary said they were the ones who shot their over bullets or who used the pepper spray that rather the military was there as a supportive role standing by to step in if a law enforcement was needed require the help of the military he also made clear that those active duty troops who were called upon and stationed at the ready just across the river from washington d.c. mark asked for the defense secretary said that they were not actually deployed and you really seen these see these military. leaders zone in on that they that the military did show rest

bernard lafayette, now a professor at auburn university, welcome to democracy now! we last spoke to you when freedom riders the documentary by stanley nelson came out at the sundance film festival. to how you first met jojohn lewis andnd to the st ins and freedom m rides. >> thank you. i want to say that i a appreciae whatat you are doing in terms of documenting history. our young people can take thevantage e of understanding particulars and how things change so they can maintaiain those changes and make even more. what youou are doioing is exexty important, and i'm happy to join you. when i was a studentnt at amerin babaptist collegege, john lewisd i were roommatates. we decided we were going to participate in the wororkshops that jim lawson was conducting in nashvhville focused on the et ins. it w was j john who persuadededo go to o the workshohops. i had so many jobsbs on campus,i did not have time. as john has s always been,n, hes very persuasive and persistent. j just tothe wororkshops stop hearing john talk.k. byo and behold, i w was consumd the information an

john's episcopal church near lafayette square. secret service and park police use of force cleared that up. 51 u.s. park police officers were injured during the perimeter expansion. do you want to expand on the actions? a.g. barr: for those days there was unprecedented riding right around the white house. around 90 officers were injured. it has been so bad that it was reported that the secret service recommended the president go into shelter. we had a breach of the treasury department. st. john's was on fire. bricks were thrown at the police repeatedly. they took crowbars to lafayette park and through them at the police. balloons of caustic liquid were thrown at the police. there was total consensus that we could not allow that to happen. that kind of rioting. perimeter out the one block and push it up toward another street. being that plan and the park police and secret service have worked out the night before. put the perimeter further away and give them time to put a non-scalable fence around the northern part of the part. ther

>> on lafayette, on lafayette -- >> the gentleman's time has expired. >> can i ask for a brief recess? >> madam chair, the witness would like a break. >> mr. barr, ten minutes? >> five. >> okay. the committee will stand in recess for five minutes. >> good day, i'm andrea mitchell in washington. you have been watching a contentious hearing. democrats on the house judiciary committee trying to grill attorney general bill barr after more than a year of his refusing to appear before them on big issues like his characterization, they say inaccurate, of the russia probe, the mueller probe, his order of federal agents into portland and lafayette square and whether he's independent of political influence from president trump, after ranking republican jim jordan showed a graphic, selectively edited nearly eight-minute montage of protests around the country which he claimed were anything but peaceful including sound bites from democrats biden and obama, clearly very political and highly edited. our team is in place, msnbc's garrett haake on capitol hill, former federal prosecutor and house inte

john's episcopal church near lafayette square. secret service and park police appropriate use of safe restorative force actually cleared that up. in total, however, 51 u.s. park police officers were injured during the weekend leading up to the perimeter expansion. do you want to expand on the actions with lafayette park? >> for the 29th, 30th and 31st there was unprecedented rioting right around the white house. very violent. during that time, as you say, about 50 park police and a comparable number of secret service. so we had about -- i think around 90 officers injured. i'm talking about things like concussions. one was operated on and so forth. we had the president -- it was so bad that it's been reported the secret service recommended the president go down to the shelter. we had a breach of the treasury department. the historical building on lafayette park was burned down, the lodge. st. john's was set on fire. bricks were thrown at the police repeatedly. they took crow bars and pried up the pavers on lafayette park and threw

lafayette park was also lit on fire, directly in lafayette park, looking for people, the person responsible for setting that fire as well. >> others who participated in the attempted disruption of the andrew jackson statue are already in custody including 37-year-old graeme lloyd who turned himself over to authorities in portland, maine, and made his first court appearance yesterday. the judge in that case transferred the case to here in washington, d.c. by the way, bill, the bureau of alcoholic, tobacco, and firearms is opening up to team is offering a $15,000 reward for anybody who can identify leading to charges and conviction of people who are send the church and the related structures. tremendous amount of money involved for people willing to talk about that. >> we are on it. we will bring you back. thank you, doug. hearing from lawmakers after intel chiefs a moment ago brief congressional leaders, live in capitol hill to find out what happened behind closed doors. a record 10,000 new coronavirus cases in one day, dr. marc siegel, what you need to know heading into the weeke weekend. c

talking about lafayette park. that is fine. but there were other law deployed who were non-d.c.y nonlocal, also deployed to take action of the he boundaries district of columbia. i'm asking if you know yet actions r not those were coordinated with the d.c. not.onal guard or sec. esper: my understanding is because i was with secretary of mccarthy, the chairman, we were at the f.b.i. joint center monday evening with representatives from a funnel of agencies. agencies, i r of can't list them all so i know it coordinated.ll secretary mccarthy did an utstanding job with regard to working that out and major general walker was by his side time.of the i will see if chairman milley has thinking to add on that. about 30 seconds. gen. milley: congressman, i an't confirm or deny that all of those federal law enforcement agencies were tied into the d.c. personally.rd for walker, i would have to talk to walker specifically about that. all the federal agencies came underneath the department f justice except for the park police who were under

you think it's appropriate at lafayette park to pepper spray, teargas, and beat american citizens? >> i don't accept your characterization of what happened. but, as i explained. >> i just asked you yes or no. . he was there. this was an unprovoked escalation of excessive use of force against protesters. numerous media reports. mr. barr, this is my time. sir, sir, the president told governors on a telephone call that the way to deal with the protesters of police brutality and systemic racism like in lafayette square is that you have to get much tougher. you have to dominate. if you don't dominate, you are wasting your time. these are terrorists. and he also talked about you on that call, sir. here's what he said. he said, the attorney general, and will activate him strongly. do you remember customer >> yes, i do, but he wasn't talking abo. >> apparently the president believes that you can be activated to implement the president's agenda and dominate american people exi exercising t amendment rights if you are protesting against him. but let's look at how you respond when the protest

he didn't know that tear gas was used against the peaceful protests in lafayette square. he didn't know that president trump's tweets existed about michael flynn and roger stone and so what does that tell us about the attorney general? >> the single thing that emerges time after time after time is that bill barr has always been, is now and will always be the henchman for donald trump. he acts as donald trump's personal attorney to get things done. donald trump activates him when he needs something done and bill barr jumps. he is not the attorney general for the people of the united states. and what he's doing is using the justice department, the enormous powers of the justice department on every level, whether it is going back to, you know, withholding information from the mueller report and mischaracterizing it or whether it is in terms of the way he responds to certain protests. he is responding completely without regard to equal justice under the law. that's really clear over and over again. he says that he's not aware of these things, but, you know, he's under oath. i

the marquis de lafayette in france and hero so many towns named after him he had upon his sword in order to try to pay some of the taxes to the oligarchy washington thought this was a major threat and we needed a more centralized federal constitution jefferson of course said you know that the tree of liberty must be refresh from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants and a little rebellion is a good thing we should have a continuous revolution jefferson's a flawed character but i tend to human his direction on this one the 3rd strand of paper patriotic dissent you call the nationalist what's that you know this in a very simplified and and i think misunderstood way this has some of the america 1st aspect to it it's been misunderstood the isolationists weren't quite as isolationist or anti semitic as most of them have made been made out to be but it's the idea that national interests would come 1st and that far flung wars and adventures in imperialism is alternately not in our interest one of the ways you see this and it does have a dark side as a positive side obviously but a

. >> the use of pepper bombs to americans in lafayette square you said there were no chemical irritants, pepper spray is not a chemical irritant, it's not a chemical, quote. >> everything is chemical. i was referring to dichotomy in these kinds of things between chemical compounds and naturally occurring substances. >> mr. attorney general, reclaiming my time there are rules by which we operate here. i would ask you to respect them. take a look at the screen. i place on this screen for reference as you are aware how your department described pepper balls as used in lafayette square. the pepper ball system's accuracy and accompanying blunt trauma impact made it an ideal chemical defensing system so while you in a quote said it's not chemical you today confirm it is chemical and you are aware of your department's policy, are you not? >> what policy? >> the one i just provided to you. >> what does it say? what's the policy? >> i showed it to you. finally, whether or not you authorized it at this time -- perhaps you weren't listening. >> i didn't see the policy. what was the policy in there

john lafayette square. at the corner of 18th street so we were passing out water and snacks hand sanitizer masks of peace where they gathered so to holy ground and while you may not think episcopalians do this we were laying hands on people and playing with them people sat on the shade is a place of respite i would venture into the crowd you could hear people with megaphones inside the park leading the protest police. or racist and then things changed in an instant. suddenly i saw and heard protesters running from lafayette park and trails of smoke billowing from the crowd. running north on 16th street to pile onto the patio some crying and asking for help and paper towels or water a because there eyes were stinging and eyes were streaming with water. sounding like gunfire. and then dropping to the ground in fear it was gunfire. i couldn't understand what had happened with that sudden change of the behavior of the police. it was 6:36 p.m. before the 7:00 o'clock curfew i was on the patio and right across th

. >> reporter: around the county 150 polling locations like this here in lafayette will be open on election day but all registered voters will be sent mail-in ballots as well and they are being urged to use those and counties say they are prepared for the crush. >> if you got an email like this one from the california secretary of state's office, it is double checking your voter registration before the largest absentee ballot effort in history in the middle of a global pandemic. david levine is a constitutional law professor at uc hastings and says covid-19 should not stop free and fair elections. >> if we managed to have elections in the civil war and we managed to have them during the pan-american war and the pandemic of 1918 and world war i into and we managed to have elections despite crises. >> reporter: in contra costa county were before the pandemic 75% of the ballots were absentee, the registrar's office has expanded their efforts. >> after the election of 2018 we up graded all of our mail handing equipment and scanners and sorters. >> reporter: they are reaching out to 150 voters w

. >> the events i witnessed at lafayette square on the evening of june 1 were deeply disturbing to me and fellow national guardsmen. >> o'donnell: campaign 2020, america decides. joe biden says he'll pick his running mate next week. so who is on the short list? deadly shark attack. a 63-year-old woman killed by a great white shark as shark sightings in new york force popular beaches to close along the coast. two fatal accidents brought new york city to shut down a popular moped-sharing company. could other cities do the same? and tonight, military history: the woman now in charge of the u.s. army reserve, shattering a glass ceiling more than 100 this is the "cbs evening news" th norah o'donnell, reporting from the nation's capital. >> o'donnell: good evening to our viewers in the west. thank you for joining us tonight. with the death toll from coronavirus closing in on 150,000 americans, it now appears the outbreak is growing so rapidly nationwide, nearly half of all states are in what the white house calls the red zone. in a new report given to governors this week, but not released p

do you think that was appropriate at lafayette park to pepper spray tear gas and beat protesters and injure american citizens? >> well, i don't accept your characterization of what happened. but as i explained, the effort there was -- >> mr. barr, just answer yes or no. so let me just tell you, i'm starting to lose my temper. according to sworn testimony before the house natural resources committee by adam demarco who was there, this was, quote, an unprovoked escalation and excessive use of force against peaceful protesters, numerous media reports. >> i don't remember demarco as being involved in the decision-making. >> sir, sir, the president told governors on a telephone call that the way to deal with the protesters of police brutality and systemic racism like in lafayette square is that, quote, you have to get much tougher. you have to dominate. if you don't dominate, you're wasting your time. these are terrorists. and he also talked about you on that call, sir. here is what he said. he said, the attorney general is here, bill barr, and we will activate bill barr and activate him

barr, on june 1, there were protests against the murder of george floyd and police brutality in lafayette park. let this not be distracted by you or my gop colleagues as to what these powerful and massive protests were actually about. they were about the persistent killings of lack bodies by law americaent, andfinally, an awan of the conscience of our country. yet, your response was to direct federal officers to close in on protesters and use shields offensively as weapons. balls,s, pepper irritants, explosive devices, batons and horses to clear the area just so the president could get a photo op. thent to ask, do you think response at lafayette square to teargas, pepper spray -- --er-american citizens injured american citizens was appropriate? >> to my understanding, no teargas was used. semanticrr, that is a distinction that has been proven false. >> how is it semantic? >> you talked about chemical irritants. it has been proven false by reports. answer the question. do you think it was appropriate at lafayette park to pepper spray, tear gas and beat protesters and endure american citize

we ask about the protesters forcibly cleared from lafayette park. was it for that presidential photo-op? also tonight, the a.g. on black lives matter an on allegations of racial profiling by police. and amid this pandemic, should americans, concerned about their health, be allowed to vote in the presidential election by mail? what the attorney general says. >>> after that confrontation in new york's central park ignittrn calling police on a black man, a bird watcher, falsely claiming he was threatening her. the surprising turn tonight. what he's now saying to prosecutors. >>> the racist rant against asian-americans inside this restaurant. a tech ceo on video lashing out. the waitress defending the families and what's happened now. >>> the teacher who made international headlines has died. mary kay letourneau, convicted of raping a 12-year-old student, later marrying him. he was by her side as she died. deborah roberts on that tonight. >>> and the tropical threat we're watching along the east coast this evening as it closes in on the carolinas and th

we are live in lafayette for us tonight. election officials say here in the bay area that they are prepared to handle a very smooth very large ab continnt c november. they say they are prepared that they can handle the volume even if it is greater than they expect . >> reporter: every registered californian will be sent an absentee ballot for the election in november and if you have never used it before this email may pop into your inbox from the secretary of state's office asking to double check your address and at the contra costa registrar's office, they say they are prepared for a potential 150,000 extra ballots. >> we are very very good at processing vote by mail ballots and after upgraded all of handling equipment and scanners and disorders. we already had a large capacity. >> reporter: time is of the essence. ballots should go out soon as possible and the post office is asking for at least a week to deliver your ballot to the registrar and in contra costa you can bypass the post office by using one of these 45 drop bo

john's episcopal church near lafayette square. secret service and park police use of force cleared that up. 51 u.s. park police officers were injured during the perimeter expansion. do you want to expand on the actions? a.g. barr: for those days there was unprecedented riding right around the white house. around 90 officers were injured. it has been so bad that it was reported that the secret service recommended the president go into shelter. we had a breach of the treasury department. st. john's was on fire. bricks were thrown at the police repeatedly. they took crowbars to lafayette park and through them at the police. balloons of caustic liquid were thrown at the police. there was total consensus that we could not allow that to happen. that kind of rioting. perimeter out the one block and push it up toward another street. being that plan and the park police and secret service have worked out the night before. put the perimeter further away and give them time to put a non-scalable fence around the northern part of the part. ther

he explains. >> you used pepper spray and truncheons on american citizens, you did it in lafayette square, you expanded it to portland and you're projecting fear and violence nationwide in pursuit of obvious political objectives. shame on you, mr. barr. >> what did you make of the numerous accusations that came from democrats not just on this issue but several, the attorney general has covered and protected the president in a way they find unlawful. >> the attorney general is enforcing the rule of law and if democrats want to try to blame the attorney general for what is happening in democrat run cities that have been democrat run for years and years -- i think the last time there was an elected republican in portland was 1956, they want to try to blame the administration for that they're just 234r0u flatout wrong, the chief of seattle who sent out a letter to the residents and business owners in seattle and said the city council passed something that doesn't allow our officers to protect you from violent crowds. i'm putting you on notice. we will have to do a quote adjusted deployment wh

a lot of question as to whether he gave directions to the federal preps that was at lafayette square in washington, d.c. when they released pepper balls and what was perceived as tear gas to that crowd. so there's questions about that. there's questions about an authorization that the justice department provided to the dea, the drug enforcement administration, to authorize surveillance activities relating to protesting activity, so there's some really substantive questions that need to be asked at this hearing today, and they are pertain to whether or not the justice department and the department of homeland security under an acting cev right now, whether they are being used as, a, a police force, a federal policing force throughout the country or, b, as an internal security service. >> yeah. >> and these are things that congress needs to wrestle with. i wonder if we'll really get to those substantive questions or if this is just going to be political banter back and forth >> yeah. >> can i just add a c to carrie's list. are these justice department officials in portland and elsewher

lafayette park comfort station was also lit on fire, directly in lafayette park. it will look for people -- the person responsible for setting that fire as well. >> and here in new york, the two lawyers accused of throwing a molotov cocktail inside a police van in brooklyn during the george floyd protests were finally released from jail and $250,000 bond after spending weeks in solitary confinement isolated to protect them from catching covid-19. police say cameras outside the 88 precinct clearly show them throwing a torch fashion from above light bottle to the broken windows and nypd vehicle, then jumping into a car to try and get away. the pair were quickly arrested and charged with a laundry list of serious federal crimes. use of explosives, arson, using an explosive to commit a felony, arson conspiracy, use of a destructive device, civil disorder and possessing and making a destructive device. if convicted, the pair could face a mandatory minimum of decades behind bars, mike, but they have both pleaded not guilty. mike. >> mike: serious charges, rick leventhal