Attorney general makes Twitter debut with #AskAG Barr
Attorney General Bill Barr received thousands of questions before his first ever Twitter Q & A Friday afternoon. Most appeared to be off the declared topic, "how DOJ is protecting public safety & combatting fraud, price gouging, hoarding, & more during the #COVID19 pandemic," but by the time the Q & A began Friday, Barr had a number of queries related to the coronavirus. He answered four.
As protests take place at state houses around the country, Barr responded to one user who asked about constitutional rights during state-enforced lockdowns by asserting that "it's time to start rolling back some of these restrictions in an orderly and sensible way."
Early on, Barr said he thought broad restrictions were "appropriate," because not much was known about COVID-19, "except that it was very contagious and we didn't want it to overwhelm our healthcare system," he explained. "But now that the curve has been flattened, the rate of spread has been slowed, our system has not been overwhelmed and has time to adjust to this situation, it's time to start rolling back some of these restrictions in an orderly and sensible way."
He called the president's plan to open the states a "sensible approach to doing that." Now, Barr added, "We are on the lookout for restrictions that are too widespread, too generalized and are unduly discriminatory to liberties such as religious liberty or speech."
Barr's most recent congressional appearance before the House Judiciary Committee was postponed due to the coronavirus, so Democratic Congressman Bobby Rush, of Illinois, went to Twitter t ask Barr a question: "Why does DOJ/BOP (Bureau of Prisons) refuse to release prisoners who pose ZERO threat to society despite the increasing number of deaths happening in federal prisons due to COVID-19?" Rush has been critical of Barr on a host of issues including the defense of the nation's health care law and the treatment of immigrants, and in December, he called for Barr's resignation and disbarment.
"It's good to hear from you Congressman Rush, I appreciate your question," Barr responded. He defended the department, countering that the it had "quickly moved to take the prisoners who are most vulnerable to COVID and provide them home confinement," initially under the First Step Act, and later, with broader discretion provided by Congress.
Barr said the department has been aggressive about trying to slow the spread of COVID-19 among inmates. "Right now we have just short of 5,000 in home confinement, and we have another thousand in the pipeline, and we're processing them very quickly," he said, but "we do not put out people who are violent offenders or sexual offenders, and we also try to ensure that they have a place to go and be confined at that is safer than their current circumstance incarcerated."
In the two days leading up to the event after the department announced it, responses to #AskAGBarr poured in, but users largely treated the Justice Department's declared topic as more of a suggestion. One user wanted to know, "What time are you resigning?" And another asked, "How does it feel defending a criminal responsible for the death of 58,471 Americans and counting?"
The Q&A
Here are the four questions from #AskAGBarr and his answers.
The first question came from @PJMclIvaine "If you've been the victim of a vile multi-state pandemic scam who do you file complaints with? The FTC? The FBI? State AG's? All of them?"
Barr: "We've gotten many questions like that and I appreciate the question. Sadly, as the whole country is rallying together to address this crisis there are still a few out there who are trying to capitalize on it through fraudulent activities, a variety of schemes. And if you think you might have been the target or the victim of a scam, or an attempted fraud related to COVID-19, do not give out any personal information and report the call or the activity to the Department of Justice's National Center for Disaster Fraud hotline at 866-720-5721."
Next up, Democratic Congressman Bobby Rush, of Illinois, asked, "Why does DOJ/BOP (Bureau of Prisons) refuse to release prisoners who pose ZERO threat to society despite the increasing number of deaths happening in federal prisons due to COVID-19?" Rush has been critical of Barr on a host of issues including the defense of the nation's health care law and the treatment of immigrants, and in December, he called for Barr's resignation and disbarment.
Barr: "It's good to hear from you Congressman Rush, I appreciate your question. We take the safety - the health and safety of our inmates very seriously and we quickly moved to take the prisoners who are most vulnerable to COVID and provide them home confinement, initially we used our authority under the First Step Act which had a lot of limitations on who could be released, but later, in March, Congress broadened the discretion of the Department to make releases for people who were in danger by COVID-19 and also did not pose a threat to the community and we've been using that discretion aggressively.
"Right now we have just short of 5,000 in home confinement, and we have another thousand in the pipeline, and we're processing them very quickly, and we do not put out people who are violent offenders or sexual offenders, and we also try to ensure that they have a place to go and be confined at that is safer than their current circumstance incarcerated. And we also require a 14-day quarantine before they are allowed out. So we are using our authority, as I say we take the safety of our inmates very seriously."
Another user, Catherine Darsey, asked a question stemming from protests at state capitols across the country right now: "How do you plan to ensure that the Constitutional Rights of Citizens that are currently being impeded by state and city elected officials in regards to personal liberty, religion, and speech during the lockdown orders of the COVID-19 Pandemic is stopped?"
Barr: " Thank you for your question about protecting the Bill of Rights during the pandemic. The government unquestionably has the right when it's facing an immediate, catastrophic danger to public safety to impose reasonable and temporary restrictions.
"But the Bill of Rights doesn't go away during a crisis like this, but what it does do is it requires the government justify any restrictions as truly necessary and ensure that there are not other ways of addressing the government's interests are less burdensome on our rights.
"Now, when this crisis first emerged, I think it was appropriate to have initially broad restrictions because we didn't know much about the disease except that it was very contagious and we didn't want it to overwhelm our healthcare system.
"But now that the curve has been flattened, the rate of spread has been slowed, our system has not been overwhelmed and has time to adjust to this situation, it's time to start rolling back some of these restrictions in an orderly and sensible way.
"And the president has provided his opening — the United States again plan — that provides a sensible approach to doing that, a framework for doing that. So we are on the lookout for restrictions that are too wide spread, too generalized and are unduly discriminatory to liberties such as religious liberty or speech. And we try to work with the state and local governments to address these concerns, and in the appropriate case we would consider taking action."
The fourth and final question came from Beena Patel, who asked, "What are US-based domains doing to shut down repeat, pervasive offenders of illegal/illicit activity related to #COVID19 #scams (I.e. PPE, fake prescription drugs, healthcare fraud & fake cures, etc)?
Barr: "We've gotten a number of questions from victims of fraud or people who are concerned about being victims and I appreciate your question.
"When the COVID-19 virus first emerged we immediately set up a task force at the Department of Justice and have gotten involved all of the 93 U.S. Attorney's offices who have lead prosecutors in each office pursuing fraud. And we're working closely with the state's Attorney's General and of course the FBI has a very aggressive program looking for fraud on the internet, and they have a hotline which they call the IC3 which you can get to through the FBI website.
"We've been very successful in taking down websites especially working with some of our private partners in the technology field to identify websites and domains that are involved in fraud and have them addressed quickly. We are also making arrests for people who are engaged in fraud. The most important thing you have to remember is do not give your personal information to anyone. We are seeing all kinds of scams, many of them you can find on the Department of Justice website, such as selling fake cures, suggesting that if you give them bank account information you will get your government deposit and so forth, and we are trying to keep up with all the different scams that are out there.
"I would direct you to the Department of Justice website where you're going to find our COVID-19 fraud resources and also information about the various frauds that are being perpetrated out there."
