Jerry Nadler comes out firing as Bill Barr appears before Congress: You have ‘aided and abetted' Trump 'at his worst’

House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) read the riot act to Attorney General William Barr for his "twisted" administration of justice.

The New York Democrat opened the hearing, which was delayed after Nadler was in a car crash, with a fiery rebuke of Barr's service under President Donald Trump.

"Congress established the Department of Justice to enforce the nation's first civil rights laws after the Civil War," Nadler said. "From that moment on, it became the department's responsibility to ensure the right to vote and to stem the tide of systemic racism. Now, not every attorney general in the intervening 150 years has given full expression to these two goals. I am certain that every administration has fallen short of those promises in some way over time."

"But today, under your leadership, sir, these two objectives are more at risk than at any time in modern history," Nadler added. "Your tenure has been marked by a persistent war against the department's professional core in an apparent attempt to secure favors for the president. Others have lost sight of the importance of civil rights laws, but now we see the full force of the federal government brought to bear against citizens demonstrating for the advancement of their own civil rights. There is no precedent for the Department of Justice to actively seek out conflict with American citizens under such flimsy pretext or for such petty purposes."

Nadler ripped Barr for helping the president ignore a pandemic that's killed 150,000 Americans, and then turning federal agents loose against protesters.

"We are as a nation witnessing the federal government turn violently on its own people, and although responsibility for the government's failure to protect the health, safety and constitutional rights of the American people belongs squarely to President Trump, he could not have done this alone," Nadler said. "He needed help. After he finished utterly humiliating his first attorney general, he found you. In your time at the department, you have aided and abetted the worst failing of the president."

"This administration has twisted the Department of Justice into a shadow of its former self, capable of serving most Americans only after it has first served those in power," Nadler said. "This committee has responsibility to protect Americans from that kind of corruption, Mr. Barr."