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Barr to Testify Before Congress on US Federal Protest Response

VOA News

   U.S. Attorney General William Barr is set to testify Tuesday before the
   House Judiciary Committee where lawmakers are expected to ask him about
   a range of topics involving the Trump administration, including
   thedeployment of federal officers in response to protests in the
   northwestern city of Portland, Oregon.

   Text of Barr's opening statement released ahead of the hearing says the
   late May death of George Floyd in police custody was a "horrible" event
   that sparked a necessary examination of the relationship between law
   enforcement and African Americans in the United States.

   But Barr says the ongoing protests in Portland and elsewhere have
   become disconnected from Floyd's death.

   "Largely absent from these scenes of destruction are even superficial
   attempts by the rioters to connect their actions to George Floyd's
   death or any legitimate call for reform,"Barr says.

   He reiterates Trump administration criticisms of local leaders, many of
   whom have offered their own rejections of the federal government's
   responses and called for Congress to block deployments of federal
   forces in their cities.

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