Former attorney general William Barr says DOJ has gone 'too far' in targeting Jan. 6 attendees

WASHINGTON, DC- Last weekend, former Attorney General William Barr, appearing on Neil Cavuto’s Fox News program, said the Department of Justice has gone “far too broadly” on prosecuting those involved with the January 6, 2021 incident at the US Capitol, The Hill reported. 

“Well, you know, like everything else the left does, they did, I think, go too far,” Barr told Cavuto. 

“I think there were people involved on January 6, particularly the people who attacked the police and broke their way into the Capitol, there were people that should have been prosecuted, but I think they cast their net far too broadly and have been hounding people that really, you know, just wanted [sic] into open doors in the Capitol and hung around,” Barr said. 

Barr said he wasn’t trying to downplay what happened at the Capitol on that date, however he said he doesn’t “think it was an insurrection.” 

“It was clearly a shameful episode, and some of the people involved should be prosecuted,” said Barr, who served as attorney general under President George H. W. Bush and again for President Donald Trump. 

Last weekend was the third anniversary of the Capitol siege, and unlike the former attorney general, the current members of federal law enforcement signaled they are planning to widen their net in seeking anyone who was near the Capitol on Jan. 6. 

According to The Dallas Express, U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves said over the weekend that the Department of Justice may soon focus on those who peacefully assembled outside the Capitol Building, which would seem to be an unprecedented attack on the First Amendment. 

“An important note when it comes to our prosecutions about those who remained outside the building. We have used our prosecutorial discretion to primarily focus on those who entered the building or those who engaged in violent or corrupt conduct on Capitol grounds,” Graves said. 

“But if a person knowingly entered the restricted area without authorization, they had already committed a federal crime. Make no mistake, thousands of people occupied an area that they were not authorized to be present in in the first place.” 

Graves did not indicate what he meant by a “restricted area.” 

It has been reported that over 1,200 people have been charged for their role in the events at the Capitol, according to the Associated Press. Many are still being held in a DC jail, still awaiting trial. 

The Dallas Press previously reported on what appeared to be the politicization of the Department of Justice and the FBI over recent years. Critics say that narrative is magnified by the fact that neither agency has taken any interest in matters such as the threats against conservative Supreme Court justices, nor did they use the same investigative zeal to identify those who engaged in violent riots in the summer of 2020, many of which targeted federal property. 

In 2022, Republican members of the House eviscerated the FBI and Director Christopher Wray for the politicization of the agency. 

“The Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the stewardship of Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland, is broken. The problem lies not with the majority of front-line agents who serve our country, but with the FBI’s politicized bureaucracy,” the report read, while providing numerous details made by whistleblowers inside the FBI and DOJ. 

Graves’ comments caught the attention of conservatives on X, who accused the federal government of being fascist. 

“These are fascist police state thugs we’re up against. They’re morally no better than the Gestapo,” wrote Kyle Becker on X, suggesting Graves’ comments signaled the DOJ was attempting to criminalize peaceful protest on the Capitol grounds to target political opponents. 

Barr’s comments came some three years after the Capitol siege, which Democrats and liberal media outlets have attempted to paint as an “insurrection” despite the fact few participants had any weapons whatsoever. 

The incident came during a “Stop the Steal” rally that former President Trump encouraged supporters to attend, asking them to march “peacefully and patriotically to the US Capitol and make your voices heard.” Those words have been twisted to suggest Trump incited a riot. 

The dragnet, which has been referred to as a “politically-motivated witch hunt,” is the largest criminal investigation in American history, even surpassing the investigation into the 9/11 terror attacks. 

Last Friday, a federal court ruled that even passive rioters who were present during the incident can be convicted of disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor.