PHOENIX — U.S. Attorney General William Barr focused on crime when holding a press conference at the Drug Enforcement Administration office in Phoenix Thursday.
“The first duty of government is to protect the public safety,” said Barr.
He was surrounded by meth and guns seized in Phoenix, part of the DEA’s latest operation, “Operation Target Shield.”
The press conference turned controversial and political when Barr echoed presidential talking points about crime and ballot fraud. Barr said crime is down overall, but he says it's up in big cities.
“This came became very pronounced in the wake of George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis and the subsequent dehumanization of police and the defund the police movement.”
Team 12’s Niala Charles asked Barr if he thinks the officers who killed Floyd have anything to do with the unrest.
He responded, “I don’t think they [officers who killed Floyd] are responsible for the rioting, responsible for the increase in crime. The people responsible are the people doing it.”
Here in Phoenix, police say they have seen a 25% increase in crime since January, but that rise started before Floyd’s death in May.
In a statement, the department says, “It is difficult to identify one reason for the uptick in crime, especially in light of the health pandemic…”
Activist Warren Stewart Jr. has marched in Phoenix protests calling for an end to police brutality.
He says Barr’s statement ignores the reason behind the unrest.
“That is a lie. The direct action that we see happening in the world is because of police brutality. For the Attorney General to say something like that you have to be aloof and live in a bubble.”
Barr also says he’s concerned about mail-in ballots.
“That opens the flood gate to potential fraud and coercion and has always been recognized as creating those significant risks,” says Barr.
Arizona’s Secretary of State Katie Hobbs calls Br’s comment “a shame” saying, “That is simply inaccurate. Arizona has a decades-long history of secure and reliable ballot-by-mail procedures.”
Gov. Doug Ducey also expressed confidence in Arizona’s mail-in-ballot system in a press conference Thursday.
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