#Bill Barr says he didn’t give order to disperse White House protesters

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Attorney General Bill Barr, center, stands in Lafayette Park across from the White House as demonstrators gathered on June 1.
Alex Brandon/AP

Bill Barr said he did not give the order to disperse protesters from a park outside the White House Monday, deepening the mystery of who exactly made the controversial call.

Barr said the decision was already in the works by the time he arrived at a meeting with senior law enforcement officials from Metropolitan Police and US Park Police.

“They had the Park Police mounted unit ready, so it was just a matter of execution. So, I didn’t just say to them, ‘Go.’” Barr said, while adding he did support the decision.

“I’m not involved in giving tactical commands like that,” the Attorney General said. “I was frustrated and I was also worried that as the crowd grew, it was going to be harder and harder to do. So my attitude was get it done, but I didn’t say, ‘Go do it.’”

The comments appear to contradict a statement from White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany Wednesday, who said it was Barr who had given the order.

“So he said that we needed to get going with moving that perimeter. He told the officers that out there,” McEnany said.

The order to disperse protesters with pepper balls and smoke bombs has come under criticism in recent days as an unnecessary show of force in the face of mounting racial unrest across the country.

One of the most high-profile critics was James Mattis, President Trump’s former Secretary of Defense, who called the decision an “abuse of executive authority.”

Barr disputed that characterization, saying the retired general’s comments were “borne of ignorance of the facts.”

With Post wires