>> Representative Pramila Jayapal had an excellent line of questioning for Attorney General William
Barr as he was testifying before the House Judiciary Committee.
What I love about this video is her strength and her unwillingness to back down.
Let's watch.
>> When protesters with guns and swastikas and Confederate flags-
>> I am aware of protesters in the federal government.
>> Excuse me, Mr. Barr, this is my time and I control it.
>> You are aware of certain kinds of protesters.
But in Michigan, when protesters carry guns and Confederate flags and swastikas and call
for the governor of Michigan to be beheaded and shot and lynched, somehow, you're not
aware of that.
Somehow, you didn't know about it.
So you didn't send federal agents in to do to the president's supporters, what you did
to the president's protesters.
In fact, you didn't, put pepper balls on those protesters.
So the point I'm trying to make here, Mr. Barr, that I think is very important for the
country to understand, is that there is a real discrepancy in how you react as the Attorney
General, the top cop in this country.
When white men with swastikas storm a government building with guns, there is no need for the
president to, quote, activate you.
Because they're getting the president's personal agenda done.
But when black people and people of color protest police brutality, systemic racism
and the president's very own lack of response to those critical issues, then you forcibly
remove them with armed federal officers, pepper bombs.
Because they are considered terrorists by the president.
You take an aggressive approach to Black Lives Matter protests, but not to right wing extremists
threatening to lynch a governor if it's for the president's benefit.
Did I get it right, Mr. Barr?
>> I have responsibility for the federal government and the White House is the seat of the-
>> Mr. Barr, let me make it clear you are supposed to represent-
>> The Michigan authorities can handle >> The people of the United States of America,
not violate people's first amendment rights.
>> I can definitely say, as someone who's had to sit here and talk about stories involving
the Trump administration and its dismantling of our constitutional rights and just the
utter frustration that I've felt.
Watching a video like that, Ben, it made my day, really, to see that kind of strength,
especially from someone, I know she's a progressive.
But she's still part of the Democratic Party.
And the Democratic Party has been so frustrating when it comes to so many issues.
To see Pramila Jayapal speak up like that and not let William Barr get away with his
expected lies, it felt good.
It felt good, to say the least.
But I wanna open it up to you.
>> Yeah, no, it definitely felt, it was cathartic to say the least.
But this is how we have to approach them, this is the baseline.
We're not playing around with people who are going to engage in good faith.
They will burn this system to the ground in order to maintain political power.
And if we don't understand the score, if we keep playing with them as though we can all
go and get a scotch or bourbon after we get done arguing on the Senate floor, then we're
gonna continue to lose our constitutional rights.
And we're gonna wake up and be in a further right wing country than we are now, if you
can even imagine that.
>> Yeah, you crystallized it for me because I didn't really know how to put into words
what it was about that video that spoke to me, but you're right.
It's one of the rare instances where you see a member of the Democratic Party treating
a member of the Trump administration the way he should be treated.
An individual who does not argue on good faith.
An individual who doesn't value our system of government, who doesn't value our right,
our freedoms, who would love to solidify and increase and expand the power of the executive
branch.
I mean he's very clear about that.
He's been very clear about that.
That's who William Barr is.
And to see someone finally follow through with a line of questioning that someone like
William Barr deserves was cathartic to say the least.
And felt for the first time in a long time that someone was actually fighting on behalf
of the people.
So I really appreciate that video and that exchange by Representative Pramila Jayapal.
I hope you guys enjoyed it too.