Jim Jordan opens Barr hearing with very long, selectively edited video of nationwide protests

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is once again making a scene.

As he typically does during House Judiciary Committee hearings, the ranking member started his opening statement in a hearing with Attorney General William Barr with a bang. He railed against purported FBI "spying" on the Trump campaign, made conspiratorial mentions of former President Barack Obama and ex-FBI agent Peter Strzok, and then launched into an eight-minute video that committee Chair Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said Jordan didn't even ask permission to show.

Barr appeared Tuesday before the committee to testify on the politicization of the Justice Department after a months-long delay due to the COVID-19 and Barr's apparently busy schedule. Nadler used his opening statement to give a history lesson of the Justice Department, saying it was dedicated to "the impartial administration of the law" after the Civil War. But Barr hasn't lived up to that mission, Nadler said, accusing him of trying to "secure favors for the president."

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When it was Jordan's turn to speak, he jumped in before Nadler even finished introducing him and gave a whirlwind account of what he saw as the past DOJ administration's attempt to keep President Trump out of office. But Barr has "defended law enforcement," Jordan said, before showing a video of select clips where protests appeared violent and where journalists appeared to insist protests were peaceful even in the limited moments where they weren't. Kathryn Krawczyk