And they said his Justice Department must make major changes to address the roots of the mass uprisings in American cities after the killing of another black man at the hands of a policeman.
- “Things have gotten worse since Rodney King and it’s clear that the William P. Barr ‘let’s ignore reality and get tough on protesters’ approach is the wrong way to go. It was wrong then and it’s wrong now,” Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) told Power Up. “He is an individual who has shown such blatant disregard for the law and the Constitution. I think he will go down in history as one of the worst attorneys general ever to hold office — a man who cares nothing about making sure that the people who need protection under the law get that protection.”
- “Policymakers, starting with the federal government, must change the policies,” Johnson added. “From a black standpoint, we’ve got to have police reform because we’ve had a knee on our neck since slavery … Even with the election of Barack Obama, we’ve got a knee on our neck. And Donald Trump is standing there, urging a continuation of the same policies and so we’ve got to get rid of him and we can only do so at the ballot box in November.”
Johnson, a member of Congressional Black Caucus, believes there’s enough support among House Democrats to pass police reform, though any changes would likely face an uphill battle in the GOP-held Senate. He’s one of several lawmakers who have offered or reintroduced legislation aimed at addressing police brutality and racial discrimination.
- Johnson’s criminal justice reform package includes a bill to “give the Department of Justice jurisdiction to bring charges against an officer if a state fails to do so, when a civilian is wrongfully killed by the officer in the line of duty.” And he wants to require the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate cases where officers have wrongfully killed a civilian.
The CBC — “with the blessing of Speaker Nancy Pelosi” — has taken the lead on the House Democrats' response to the nationwide demonstrations, Politico's Sarah Ferris, Laura Barron-Lopez, John Bresnahan, and Heather Caygle report.
- “We have to ask ourselves and we have to ask the country at what point, at what point will be grow tired of seeing people literally executed on video and nothing happens," CBC Chair Karen Bass (D-Calif.) said at a news conference Monday.
President Trump's Justice Department has pulled back from police oversight such as “pattern or practice” probes like the one initiated in the 2014 killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., where then-AG Eric Holder ordered an investigation into that entire city's police department, according to our colleagues Matt Zapotosky, Mark Berman and Erica Werner. The DOJ has also hobbled oversight of police departments and slashed funding for community policing organizations, including the Community-Based Violence Prevention Program, and the DOJ's Community Relations Service.
- Barr's DOJ has initiated a civil right investigation into George Floyd's killing, but has not launched a broader “pattern or practice” probe.
- “Police departments are not investigated under this administration,” Christy Lopez, who led the Justice Department group investigating police departments under the Obama administration, told Matt, Mark and Erica.
Barr, who oversaw the DOJ's response to the 1992 police beating of Rodney King in 1992 as President George H.W. Bush's AG, has previously attacked district attorneys who have pushed for police accountability and “style themselves as ‘social justice’ reformers, who spend their time undercutting the police, letting criminals off the hook and refusing to enforce the law.”
Trump – who tweeted yesterday “My Admin has done more for the Black Community than any President since Abraham Lincoln” – has yet to offer any substantive policy fix to address the current unrest, as tensions eased overnight despite many protesters defying curfews.
And he has called for mayors and governors to “dominate” protesters, warning he will dispatch National Guard troops to quell the unrest, despite some bipartisan support in Congress for demilitarizing police departments
- “Sen. Brian Schatz, Democrat of Hawaii, who has long pressed to limit the transfer of military-grade equipment to police departments, announced that he would move to include an amendment in the must-pass annual defense policy bill to shut down the program entirely,” the New York Times’s Catie Edmondson reports. “Doug Stafford, Sen. Rand Paul’s chief strategist, responded on Sunday night to Mr. Schatz’s idea: ‘We’ve being doing this one for years. Happy to help,’ he wrote on Twitter. Mr. Paul has also been a longtime proponent of the demilitarization of local police and has previously teamed with Mr. Schatz to reform the Pentagon program, known as 1033.”
- In 2014, Paul authored an op-ed in the wake of Ferguson: “The militarization of our law enforcement is due to an unprecedented expansion of government power in this realm. It is one thing for federal officials to work in conjunction with local authorities to reduce or solve crime. It is quite another for them to subsidize it.”
- But: “It is unclear how much support Mr. Schatz’s measure could receive in the Republican-controlled Senate.”
- “Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said Monday that he is working on a plan to create a national registry of police misconduct and to ban racial and religious profiling nationwide,” our colleague Toluse Olorunnipa reports. “Rep. Justin Amash (I-Mich.) introduced a proposal to end the ‘qualified immunity’ that protects police officers from being sued in many cases of misconduct. ”
Former vice president Joe Biden called on Congress to pass police reform during an address on Tuesday morning, naming a bill authored by Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) to outlaw choke holds in the wake of Eric Garner’s 2014 death.
- “Congress should put [the bill] on President Trump’s desk in the next few days,” Biden said. “There are other measures: to stop transferring weapons of war to police forces, to improve oversight and accountability, to create a model use of force standard — that also should be made law this month.”
- “It was powerful to hear Joe Biden acknowledge that it’s important to now make [the police chokehold] unlawful,” Jeffries told our colleagues Annie Linskey, Matt Viser, and Sean Sullivan in an interview. “The Congressional Black Caucus is leading the legislative effort to develop, in partnership with the nation’s leading civil rights groups, a comprehensive legislative response. And Joe Biden’s voice in support of that response once it has been developed will be incredibly important.”
- Biden also promised to pursue police reform in his first 100 days as president through the creation of a national police oversight commission. “I’ve long believed we need real community policing,” Biden said. “And we need each and every police department in the country to undertake a comprehensive review of their hiring, their training, and their de-escalation practices.”
- And he called for help from Julián Castro, who introduced comprehensive police reform during his failed presidential run: “We’re going to tackle this head on — and we’re going to need your help to do it. Grateful for your support,” Biden tweeted in response to Castro’s backing of him.
Outside groups have also put forth a laundry list of policy proposals to crack down on police brutality, Campaign Zero's Sam Sinyangwe told Power Up the key is expanding the DOJ's role in “investigating and holding police department’s accountable for patterns of discriminatory policing.” The group supports ending police brutality.
- “Police violence is something that tends to be determined at the local level — each police department has it’s own policies, outcomes and leadership and there are no uniform standards with regards to use of force and data reporting on police violence,” Sinyangwe added on the need for federal intervention.
- Patrisse Cullors, a co-founder of Black Lives Matter, released an open letter signed by celebrities, athletes, and activists urging local governments to slash their police budgets.
- Minneapolis Public Schools terminated its contract with the city’s police department over Floyd’s death, according to the Star Tribune’s Ryan Faircloth.
- “The Minneapolis and St. Paul school districts have long faced criticism over the use of school resource officers, with both seeking to transform the role to be more of a mentor than an enforcer. In 2018-2019, a Minneapolis Public Schools survey gave mostly positive marks to the officers, but the data also showed that school cops had more interactions with black students than their peers,” Faircloth reports.
A turning point? Public opinion might help raise the pressure on lawmakers for substantive policy changes: A new poll from Monmouth University found that 57 percent of Americans believe police are more likely to use excessive force against black people — “compared to one-third (33%) who say the police are just as likely to use excessive force against black and white culprits in the same type of situation.”
- It wasn't always like this: “The current findings represent a marked change in public opinion from prior polls. In a poll of registered voters taken after the police shooting of Alton Sterling in Louisiana in July 2016, just 34% said blacks were more likely to be subject to excessive force while 52% said they were just as likely as whites,” according to Monmouth. “In December 2014, after a grand jury declined to indict a New York City police officer in the chokehold death of [Garner], the results were 33% more likely and 58% just as likely.”
- “It seems we have reached a turning point in public opinion where white Americans are realizing that black Americans face risks when dealing with police that they do not. They may not agree with the violence of recent protests, but many whites say they understand where that anger is coming from,” said Patrick Murray, director of Monmouth's polling institute.
Outside the Beltway
AMERICA LAST NIGHT: Scenes and key developments from around the country.
Protesters defied curfews, but tensions begin to ease: “Daytime clashes between police and the public were largely peaceful, as a second week of protests over [Floyd’s] death in Minneapolis police custody began. Major cities continued with widespread curfews, and the National Guard attempted to prevent another night of violence and chaos,” Lateshia Beachum, John Wagner, Brittany Shammas, Ben Guarino, Meryl Kornfield, Allyson Chiu and Katie Shepherd report.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) announced a review of the Minneapolis Police Department: “The Minnesota Department of Human Rights will launch an investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department after filing a civil rights charge related to the death of George Floyd …,” the Star Tribune's Jessie Van Berkel and Liz Navratil report.
- The investigation will go back an entire decade: The probe will examine “whether the department has engaged in discriminatory practices toward people of color,” the Tribune reports.
Former President George W. Bush releases statement celebrating protesters: “Bush addressed the nationwide protests in a solemn yet hopeful statement Tuesday, commending the Americans demonstrating against racial injustice and criticizing those who try to silence them,” Colby Itkowitz reports. “Describing himself as ‘anguished’ by the death of George Floyd … Bush urged white Americans to seek ways to support, listen and understand black Americans who still face ‘disturbing bigotry and exploitation.’”
- Key quote: “There is a better way — the way of empathy, and shared commitment, and bold action, and a peace rooted in justice,” Bush said in the statement. “I am confident that together, Americans will choose the better way,” Bush said.
D.C. looks very different: Jarring images of federal troops and a thrum of helicopters in the skies were a constant on the day after largely peaceful protesters were pushed back from Lafayette Square. But “as many as 2,000 demonstrators” showed up in the nation's capital to protest Monday's happenings:
- “Banging on fences erected near the White House and marching through the city to the U.S. Capitol, the largely peaceful protesters included high schoolers and stay-at-home moms, young parents and toddlers, elderly couples and large families. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) spoke with protesters, joined by her husband, Bruce Mann, and her golden retriever, Bailey,” Michael Rosenwald, Rachel Chason, Marissa J. Lang and Perry Stein report.
The Campaign
STEVE KING FALLS IN IOWA PRIMARY: “Iowa Republicans voted to end the long and divisive congressional career of Rep. Steve King, whose hard-right views on immigration and abortion became part of the GOP mainstream over two decades in the House but whose deliberately polarizing rhetoric ultimately became a liability for his party,” Mike DeBonis reports.
- House Republicans stripped King of his committee assignments last year: “That gave an opening to state Sen. Randy Feenstra, who garnered support from national GOP groups and from some prominent Iowa conservatives who argued that King undermined his influence in Washington with his drumbeat of provocative behavior.”
- That left him with little money or support: “Feenstra amassed significant support from state elected officials and national Republican-aligned groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Right to Life and the Republican Jewish Coalition. Meanwhile, prominent Iowa Republicans like Gov. Kim Reynolds and U.S. Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst opted to stay out of the race rather than supporting King as they had in past elections,” the Des Moines Register's Stephen Gruber-Miller reports.
At The White House
WHAT WE LEARNED ABOUT THE TEAR GAS FUELED PHOTO OP: “… Barr personally ordered law enforcement officials to clear the streets around Lafayette Square just before [Trump] spoke Monday, a Justice Department official said, a directive that prompted a show of aggression against a crowd of largely peaceful protesters, drawing widespread condemnation,” Carol D. Leonnig, Matt Zapotosky, Josh Dawsey and Rebecca Tan report.
- Top officials hatched the idea: Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner and Hope Hicks were all involved, the New York Times’s Peter Baker, Maggie Haberman, Katie Rogers, Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Katie Benner report. White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said during a senior staff meeting on Tuesday that the trip had been Ivanka Trump’s idea.
- Ivanka Trump gave her dad the Bible he briefly held: She pulled it out of her $1,540 MaxMara bag, the Times reports.
The White House is happy with the results: "Inside the White House it was viewed as a successful move that simultaneously signaled two of the president’s top political priorities: portraying himself as an enforcer of law and order and as a champion of religious freedom,” the Wall Street Journal’s Michael C. Bender and Sadie Gurman report.
- Yes, tear gas was used: Trump’s reelection campaign demanded journalists correct reports that tear gas was used against protesters outside the White House. But the truth boils down to an exercise in semantics, Abigail Hauslohner reports. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, several chemical compounds fit the definition of tear gas. “They include chloroacetophenone (CN), more commonly referred to as ‘mace,’ or pepper sprays — in other words, the compound that was deployed in Lafayette Square.”
Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper said he had no idea what was happening: “I thought I was going to do two things: to see some damage and to talk to the troops,” Esper told NBC News’s Courtney Kube and Carol E. Lee report.
Republicans largely avoided condemning the president. Some even defended him: “There was some sharp criticism but no widespread Republican condemnation …,” Amber Phillips reports. Sen. Ben Sasse (Neb.) delivered one of the forceful criticisms saying in a statement, “There is a fundamental — a constitutional — right to protest, and I’m against clearing out a peaceful protest for a photo op that treats the Word of God as a political prop.” (We should point out that Sasse easily dispatched his primary challenger weeks ago and largely stayed away from critical statements this past year.)
- Just check out this lengthy thread:
The People
ZUCK NO: “Mark Zuckerberg’s decision is jeopardizing Facebook’s ability to attract and retain the best and brightest tech workers,” our colleague and The Technology 202 author Cat Zakrzewski writes to us of the escalating tensions over Zuckerberg’s handling of Trump’s posts on his platform.
Why this time is different: “Never before have so many employees presented such a public and organized dissent to one of Facebook’s many controversies. This didn’t happen during Cambridge Analytica scandal, or even in the aftermath of the interference during the 2016 election,” Cat writes.
- Employees have powerful allies in civil rights leaders: They blasted Facebook’s handling of Trump’s post about shooting looters that Twitter deemed worthy of a warning for promoting violence. “Critics say Zuckerberg’s decision appears to be aimed solely at appeasing Trump, who last week signed an executive order that paves the way for federal regulators to punish social media platforms over the way they moderate posts across their services,” Cat adds.
Zuckerberg defended his decision during a video call with 25,000 employees: His comments were leaked to Recode’s Shirin Ghaffary:
One final thought. For now, the young mogul seems to be more worried about conservatives in Washington than unrest inside his company.
But Cat cautions that well-placed employees can do much more immediate damage. “Tech companies are only as good as their engineers, and Zuckerberg is making a major gamble that they’ll eventually fall in line. So far, his attempts to ease their concerns, such as yesterday’s companywide meeting, have fallen far short. ”